Every soul learns
Leaving childhood behind
That survival requires
An escape that brings joy
Without that escape
Worry and care
Grind one down
Like a carborundum wheel stone
At age twenty-one in 1960
I had a bride
Who had a child from a first marriage
And we soon had another on the way
We had not
The proverbial pot
To do what you know what in
But we had love and that was enough
Then I finished law school in ‘61
Got a job with a proud firm
Whose partners thought first about excellent reputation
Not big bucks
I was lawyer nine
Now there are more than a thousand
I am still there Of Counsel
But work mostly with my son Scott in our own firm W & W PLC
How did I get through
The many lean years
I had that magic escape
That brought pure joy
What escape was that you ask
Bird hunting of course
On foot on farms and in National Forest
After quail and ruffed grouse
That was my escape bringing joy
My melter of worry and care
The eraser of doubt we’d get through
The years of maximum stress
Then in middle age I discovered
The joy of horseback field trials
Became a reporter of those
My second escape into joy
Now I’ll soon be eighty
I ride horses no more
But from atop the dog truck
I still report the Florida Championship — Joy Enough