ARTICLE OF THE MONTH

 

Smelling the Roses

By Robert S. Meyring*, Attorney at Law

Written for Our Town Magazine – A Vinings and Cobb County monthly publication

 

In this New Year I encourage you to make your personal resolutions with the goal in mind to improve yourself, your family, or your quality of life.  The personal resolution that I will attempt to accomplish over the coming year is to actually take the time to stop and smell the roses. 

More than a simple wish, this resolution is actually quite possible in a way that was not possible only a few years ago.  If you will look closely at the end of a driveway on Mount Paran Road, close to Paces Ferry Road, you will find red roses.  Not usual for this time of the year, but definitely worth appreciating. 

In addition, on West Paces Ferry Road, just past the OK Café and on the same side, you may find cherry blossoms coming out already.   Two years ago I actually observed the cherry blossoms emerging in the very last days of January.  This year the cherry blossoms were sighted a few days before Thanksgiving.  As most of you are likely aware, the cherry blossoms are an early spring flower; it comes out at the time of the dogwoods, it’s the big spring attraction in the early spring in Washington D.C.

As a former landscaper and with an undergraduate degree in biology, I can tell you from a professional and scientific point of view, that these occurrences of winter flowers are not considered usual.  Additionally, in this politically touchy world we’ve created, it’s unlikely there would be any general consensus as to the cause.  The point of mentioning it here is to show you that sometimes you may be able to enjoy flowers at a most unexpected time.  I have suggested a number of times that the giving or receiving of flowers is something you may especially enjoy as a giver or as an unexpected recipient.  Like roses in the winter, there may only be a few opportunities to enjoy such an unexpected gift – especially if the floral gift is given outside of a funeral atmosphere.

Another suggested resolution is to finally get your will or trust or estate plan into place.  It would provide you and your family a sense of security knowing a plan is ready just in case anything should happen.  Unlike the most popular resolution, ‘to lose weight,’ establishing your will or advance directives (powers or attorney + living will), takes much less effort and more likely, painless.  [“Painless,” is actually the compliment we receive most often.]  Most helpful is also the fact that the creation of your will, trust, and estate plan may be completed quickly and in an educational and informative manner. Best of all is the knowledge that you will have a local planning adviser available to you to answer questions both now and after the creation of your New Year’s resolution-inspired estate plan.

As you resolve to smell the roses, plan better, enjoy more of your life and your family in this New Year, know that there are now more flowers out there to enjoy than usual, that there are people to help you carry through your resolutions, and that best time to enjoy flowers is while they may be appreciated.

LEGAL LAUGH

An old man was on his death bed. He wanted badly to take some of his money with him. He called his priest, his doctor and his lawyer to his bedside. "Here's $30,000 cash to be held by each of you. I trust you to put this in my coffin when I die so I can take all my money with me."

At the funeral, each man put an envelope in the coffin. Riding away in a limousine, the priest suddenly broke into tears and confessed, "I had only put $20,000 into the envelope because I needed $10,000 for a new baptistery."

"Well, since we're confiding in each other," said the doctor, "I only put $10,000 in the envelope because we needed a new machine at the hospital which cost $20,000."

The lawyer was aghast. "I'm ashamed of both of you," he exclaimed. "I want it known that when I put my envelope in that coffin, it held my personal check for the full $30,000."

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