Saturday morning hike

This morning took a strenuous hike at Lake Sonoma with my friend, David Gonzalez. The hills are steep and David carried at least 35 pounds of rocks in his back pack as a “handicap” since I’m thirty years older then he is.

I really enjoy hiking with David. We are so different, not just separated by the gap in our ages but also because I’m unabashedly liberal and David is what I describe as a traditional conservative. I wrote about David for our county bar journal, available here. Our bond, in addition to being family law lawyers and enjoying hiking, is the importance we place on raising children so they know they are valued.

Since I’ve been very preoccupied by our country’s use of torture (see my recent post), I brought it up. I learned that David isn’t where I am on this issue, but we listened to each other. When I mentioned I plan to stand on a street corner waving a sign that says “Torture R Us,” he didn’t ridicule me. It’s helpful to have a conservative with whom I can talk about difficult issues. I’m grateful to have David for a friend.

(photo of David and his dog, Otis, whose political position is unknown)