The Defense Will Not Rest

To paraphrase Ron Burgundy - I'm not sure you're aware of this but my Father is kind of a big deal.  For the last thirty-five years my Dad has been a quasi-celebrity in Northern Maine.  "Amongst the whole sixty-thousand people that live out there on the edge of the world?" You ask mockingly. I nod and avoid punching you.  I'm back to punching by the way.  I figure when your Father is slowly passing away you've got a pretty solid excuse.  Not that I ever really left punching.  I'm a huge fan of solving problems with violence.  Not with guns, knives or explosives mind you and never with a family member, loved one or friend but a good old fashioned fist-fight with a stranger in a bar/traffic/the mall never hurt anybody.  Okay, the guy getting hit in the face was probably hurt, I'm talking long term damage.  I see know that this last paragraph kind of jumped the tracks, let's start over.

For those of you that don't know, my Dad has been one of the preeminent criminal defense attorneys in Maine for the last three decades.  He's been making an argument his entire adult life.  His Go To Trial Over Anything mentality made him notorious amongst DA's and famous amongst Criminals.  Some of his more commonly referenced quotes are:

"Not prepared for a DUI trial?  Let me tell you something, somewhere right now a guy is getting drunk and is going to try to drive home.  I'm already ready for that trial!"

"You're damn right I put you on trial as a bad mother and the reason your son committed the crime because guess what - you're a horrible mother!" 

"Why did I call him a beady-eyed pedophile?  Because he's been convicted of having sex with children and his eyes are too close together."

And my personal favorite.  "Lady, I'm the smartest person you're ever gonna meet."

In many ways his love of the good fight crossed over into his personal life.  Not that he's taken any family members to court - that I am aware of.  It's that there was always an argument in my house.  I'm not talking about in a screaming and yelling sense (most of the time), you just had to be able to Defend Your Point.  You had to be able to make your case the same way he did.  Only problem was nobody can out argue my Old Man (and if you did you were probably sent to your room, unless he needed somebody to come change the channel then all was forgiven).  It's the reason why I can be such a colossal prick at times and my Sister is capable of being a total pain in the ass.  Even my Mom (the Saint of the family) would admit she's far less likely to hold her tongue on a topic now then before she met her husband.  As my Dad likes to say, they didn't raise any victims. 

Today was a good day with my Dad.  He was far more coherent.  As it turns out far more coherent equals far more argumentative.  That's okay though.  We were happy to have him participate in the conversations even if his positions crossed well beyond the ridiculous.  This morning, the Old Man argued with a doctor over his oxygen count.  It's important to mention here that my Father, as smart as he is, has ZERO medical training.  Until his oxygen levels became an issue I'd bet he didn't have a clue as to what a proper oxygen levels was.  Today he debated it like an expert on the topic.  He argued with us as to what day it was - not so expertly but to the entertainment of us all in the room.  He argued over the Sox/Yankees game.  No one disagreed with him on this point but doggonit did he argue.  We loved it.  We joyfully engaged in each silly one.  More than anything we were thrilled to know he was still fighting.