Recently, with the start of a new year, I have decided to live a semi-healthy life. I decided to incorporate salads into my life. Now, I’m not a salad person. Never a fan of the leafy green stuff, if I ate it was usually because it came with the main course. So I tried to avoid eating them but as I’ve gotten older and realizing it is tougher to keep the weight off, it is time to make some adjustments. So, I welcome salads with open arms/mind/stomach. What I didn’t realize was that I was entering into a different culture.

The salad culture, or as I refer to those who do salads for lunch (saladites) are a protective bunch. They pride themselves in knowing what they want to include in their salads, without looking at the board or the choices in front of them. They also have mastered the dressings and the whole process takes less than 5 minutes to get their salad and be on their way to work or wherever they intend to head with salad in hand.

I’m a newbie and it shows.

I look at the board, trying to determine what to place into my salad. Do I like certain combinations? Will I eat that? Why are there so many choices? The first step is choosing the size of the salad. I go with the small since I do not want to waste food. Then there are the choices, mixed greens, spinach, romaine. I go with mixed greens. Can’t go wrong with mixed stuff, right? With my bowl in hand I enter the line. I see some people glance at me and imagine it must be cause I don’t look familiar. They sense my amateur status. So I hold my bowl a little tighter and wait patiently on line, studying the list so not to take too long and piss off the line. So far, I’ve gotten the hang of things but much like New Year’s resolutioners, the saladites I have met don’t think I’m going to be there for the long haul. They have seen my types come and go. I told them while every lunch will not be a salad lunch, mark my word, I will be there at least once a week.

Today was my first time this week and it was good. Going for two tomorrow. Let’s roll.

I had dreams of having a family. Sharing the fruits of my labors with someone special and perhaps teach our children (which were either through biology, adoption or marriage) the few relevant things I learned about life. I would be on the road to looking forward to growing old with her and know that she would be in my corner regardless of what I face and I would protect her as much as I could from whatever life threw at us. Instead, I am in a complicated relationship with a wonderful girl whom I love but I feel we aren’t really meant for each other. Then there is the spectre of the relationship that could be but can I hold onto that hope much longer? These are the questions that I face in this 38th year.

Lastly, I just had a different outlook on life in general. Things in the world would be better. We, as a society, would be more humane. Understanding. Caring. We would not turn our back on our fellow human being but together would work to creating a world where everyone has opportunities and are willing to give of themselves selflessly. I think that is truly a dream that will never come true. I’m not perfect so how can I expect others to be? Yet, I still dream that one day in my lifetime, I’ll see glimmers of hope. Not class wars, racial discrimination, sexual discrimination.

So, for the past 17 years I have been thinking of what is missing in my life. What will I do in this year? I will actually appreciate what I have. Embrace the great things that my life has. I’m going to be upbeat, happy about life. It is not a so-called life. It is life and while many obstacles may come flying my way, I just have to dodge and leap but with a smile on my face and determination in my heart and mind.

So my hope for 2012 is good health to my mother and getting my life back on track.

To everyone, Happy New Year. Wish you all the best and thank you for stumbling upon, reading and/or commenting/following this blog about my life.

Sherman would pour through the New York Law Journal, reading through the various cases and decisions as well as legal theory articles. He loved law. One evening, while I was working late, I went by his office and he was sitting reading through the paper. He mentioned an exciting article about an adverse property ruling. I asked him, why did he read about legal matters that were not in his field of expertise. He told me that he loved law, being paid was just icing on the cake. The main reason he went into the field wasn’t to make money but to surround himself with subject matter that was one of the loves of his life. It was at that moment I realized I never truly loved law. I liked it a lot, but never loved it. Still, Sherman showed me how to love the field and work through the lows that come with the profession.  Through his lessons of law, he taught me about life. About working through adversity, when life hurled all sorts of challenges my way. To rise above and also love life in the process.

All of this was almost ten years ago. Now, Sherman, while practicing law, has slowed his practice down. He is 84 years young and wants to continue practicing law, told me he would till the day he no longer is breathing. I trust 100% that he would keep his word. I have noticed in our last two conversations the frailty in his voice I have not heard before. I know this is part of the normal course of life, which is why I felt I needed to write this. Sherman has had such a tremendous effect on my life. He took a lost law school student and person and helped make me a competent lawyer as well as a better person.  While I have made visits to Sherman and his family and we have talked often on the phone, I fear that those times could come to an end in our near future. I feel everyone has had a Sherman in their lives. Just think about someone who has helped you become a better person and embrace them.