David Goes to Law School
When I decided to apply to law school in August, a lot of my friends asked if I had officially lost my mind. This was a reasonable question, and remains so today. What is a 46 year old that didn’t take directions that well as a 22 year old thinking he is going to do with a law degree at 50? Work for big law? “I’m going to need you to come in on Saturday….”
But no. The truth is a big part of my life over the last 4 years was my kids and Ben and Andrew have launched. Parents are always parents, but with each day that passes, their growing independence makes us more of a board member than a CEO and our role increasing appears to be to keep the money rolling in for them….
An update: After a rocky first semester (my first semester in college was nothing to write home about either), Ben has straight As, is playing great golf heading into the spring season and has a wonderful girlfriend that someone encouraged him to make beds, fold clothes and do homework. Andrew is loving living in Calgary, had a great hockey season and comes home this weekend for a Colorado combine to reunite with all the kids he’s played with and against since he was 5. He too has a girlfriend (for her part, she has him cooking and going to farmers markets…) and he will stay in Canada to play hockey and finish high school next year. It’s crazy being an empty nester. For the young parents out there, I can’t express to you how strange and frankly empty it is.
For me, as much as I love investing in other’s businesses, advising and helping where I can, it’s not the same as running a business. You write a check, give some advice and hope it comes back in 3-5 years 2-3 times bigger. It’s interesting, but not very demanding so the truth is, I’m bored out of my mind. Keep this in mind when you visualize your own future retirement. The grass is always greener and I look with envy at many of my friend’s job stresses and crises. If only I could have a good dumpster fire of a problem to solve!
So going to law school and ultimately, ending up in the prosecutor’s office (current plan) as a second career feeds my need for challenge, passion and making a difference in the world. Will it be the stepping stone into politics? Perhaps. But I have a few years to figure that out. It would be nice to not have 80 year olds you wouldn’t let drive a car running the country.
This week, I head to campus for the admitted student open house at Denver University and it will mark the be the beginning of the journey that will officially start in August. Between coaching a high school girl’s golf team and my new classmates, I’m going to have to get a little (a lot) cooler very quickly. YOLO.