Happy Retirement Dad!

Cheers to my dad who marked 50 years since he started his career practicing law today. He often calls himself ‘Mr. Lucky’ to have married my mom and proud of the four kids that he raised - but we know we are the lucky ones!

My dad is the 2nd of 5 kids born to Stewart and Mary Jane Simonson (looks like Maisie, right?!). My grandfather was an engineer and they moved every 1-2 years his whole life - living everywhere from Idaho to New Orleans to Puerto Rico (where he infamously fell out of a 3-story window unscathed). He graduated Gonzaga University and went on to Denver for law school. When his mother fell ill with cancer, he quit school to be her caretaker, sitting bedside with her until she died. He then went to Hastings in San Francisco and became a medical defense attorney - and met my mom on a blind date while she was a flight attendant!

My dad spent his career defending the good guys - the doctors and nurses and sheriff officers. Anytime I needed a recomendation for an MD, my dad said ‘call my buddy Maury,’ and I’d get the direct line of a very important doctor (in this case, the cheif of maternal fetal medicine at Standford for my simple VBAC request) and the response was always ‘I love your father. He did a lot for me and I’ll do anything for his daughter!’

My dad wanted to be a practicing lawyer for FIFTY years before he retired. He was sidelined by an eye surgery that didn’t go as well as it should have (ironically) 1 1/2 years ago that pushed him into an ‘early’ retirement. But TODAY is that day (here is the email that we got tonight) and as always, I’m so inspired by my dad’s work ethic and dedication to his career and his family.

I remember when I met Brian (a young ambitious lawyer at the time) he had heard of my dad’s reputation. He asked me one Saturday early in dating what my parents were doing and I said ‘my dad is taking my mom shopping at the Gilroy outlets,’ to which Brian responded in disbelief, ‘does your mom know your dad is known as SUPER LAWYER?!’

Congrats on 50 years, dad! We are all so lucky that your family has always been your #1 priority, but happy to have seen your #2 work set as an example for all of us. <3