Wednesday, June 9, 2010

my life

A few hours ago I did post about my living situation.FD keeps asking me over and over again about the house (200 square meters living room plus attic floor and basement) I am living in :-) So I wrote a bit about my living arrangements. However I decided to delete that post.Here is a somewhat revised version.

As very often in my life, (some) people were overstrained by me stating the facts only. I really do not know why, really, I have no clue, but it is a reocurring detection that my life and many aspects of it are just too much for some folks.

In fact, personally I think that I lead a decent and in many ways ideal life.

Everybody is talking about cross-generational living,I do it.
By chance I opened my law firm in my grandmothers house. I did not really "plan" that. But after having been away from home, moving very often and even working abroad, it seemed a good idea to spend some time with the family again. Not to mention the financial aspects. Why should I rent a space for my business when I can do it in my own (grandmothers) place?

Flexibility? No problem for me.
I do live with a few adults under one roof.Of course we are considerate of each others feelings. So its an improvising almost all day long. It can be that I am right into writing a difficult pleading and my sister comes in and asks me to help her to write an application for a job with "American Apparel". So usually I stop and help her.( Btw. she did get the job and is working for "AA" now. And did you know that the company does actually cast people to become sales clerks with them...).

Sometimes my grandmother needs help with her meds, of course I get up from my desk and search the house for her tablet dispenser. But then, my family is supporting me too. If I need to hand deliver a document, my brother does it. I once needed to go to some opponents place, was scared to do it alone, my brother went with me. He had no clue what was going on, did not really care anyway, but he went with me. Stood there, silent but terrifying.

Unorthodox solutions? Sure.
I remember one incident where my opponent was not willing to pay his debts. I did talk to him over and over again, but I somehow felt that it would make more impression on him if a man would push him a little ( Hey, I just do whatever works best ...). So I coached my stepfather, who is a md and is not experienced in legal stuff at all, to pretend to be an associate of my law firm. My stepdad called him and said: "Hello, this is Dr.XXX (which he is, but of course not in the legal but in the medical field)from the law firm XXX..." We were all actually rofl. But it worked exactly as we had intended.I got the money a few days later.

Privacy? In my home?
It is difficult, no doubt about that. Many people, different ages, different needs, all living together...But then,the people in my home are actually great and open minded. There is almost always a solution. :-)

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing. It's an interesting living arrangement that takes a lot of mature people to make it work and you're certainly doing that.

    And I hope yo don't mind my questions. I am the curious, especially about people not living in the U.S. Always interested in hearing about what their lives are like. But if I go overboard, feel free to ignore any of my questions.

    FD

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  2. Very interesting blog. I am enjoying reading the back posts. :)

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