Insights & Guidance for Planning Ahead

My youngest son's birthday was just a few days ago. For me, his birthday was kind of a flashback to my introduction to fatherhood. Our first child was Josh. Bringing our first child into the world was a joy but I was totally intimidated. However, his birth was not without incident. My wife's labor was very long, and Josh was very big (almost 10 pounds). His collar bone was broken during the natural childbirth. Before we took him home, I was required to go to the hosp

Ten years ago this March, most of my family and I traveled to Costa Rica. To say it was memorable would be one applicable word but, perhaps, an understatement. It was Spring break, 2016. It coincided with my birthday. My niece and my wife made a los leche cake to celebrate my birthday. Two days after my birthday celebration, we went repelling. After several repels, we got to the big one – repelling down a 100-foot waterfall. As my turn arrived, I mentioned to one of

Valentine's Day has been special my entire life. In large part, it is because my mother was born on Valentine's Day and was named after it – Vallee’. For her birthday, I always knew she wanted flowers, any flowers, as long as they were roses! The flowers were to be accompanied by a card. My mom lived in Fort Worth later in life, and Bradley Florist would contact me if I did not order the flowers timely. Mrs. Bradley would call and say, "Randy, do you want to send some flower

Milo is our two-year-old Labrador mix – 95 pounds of energy and love. He is a good dog -- most of the time. Our neighbors have a Labrador as well, who's about the same age as Milo but about half the size. Izzy is a Labrador full of love and energy and is a good dog -- most of the time. Our yard joins Izzy’s yard, with a gate between the two. We open the gate so Izzy and Milo can play. But when Milo and Izzy get together, their collective IQ’s drop dramatically. The “

It was November 10, 2025, a Monday. The day before had been windy with a chill in the air though it got up to 60 degrees. The wind was exhausting after several days of it. That November 10th Monday morning Milo (my labrador mix) and I headed out for our morning walk along a draw near my home. It was our first real cold day: 15 degrees. The sun was up just enough as to light the top of trees and cast long cold shadows. While some leaves had already fallen, particularly in t

My wife and I are on a vacation tour as I write this. We arranged for a private drive around the town we were visiting to see some sites that were not part of the official tour. Our driver, Manuel, was showing us those sites, but also taking time to explain to us foods of the area. One was Nata, a traditional Portuguese custard yart with a flaky, buttery crust and creamy egg-based filing. Manuel pointed out the most popular bakery that made that pastry, as well as other

September is upon us, and with it, the beginning of dove season. Each year during this season I think of my labrador retriever Star, though she left this world ten years ago. I wrote the following article years ago, while Star was turning into old age. I also wrote it for my older clients and their families. Excuse me repeating my story, but this is to honor Star and all my clients, past and present. -Randy I have an old dog named Star. She is kind of crippled up, both front

If you listen to the talking heads, the Kansas City Chiefs have the referees in their pocket. All penalties go the way of the Chiefs; the Chiefs quarterback gets all the favorable calls. It is interesting, because statistically none of that is true. In fact, one Chiefs’ player is the 2nd most penalized player in the NFL (Taylor). Mahomes is the 21st player benefiting from a roughing the passer penalties. The other day I had a meeting with a family. One member of the family ha

We celebrate Valentine’s Day on February 14th. I always had a special Valentine: my mom. Mom was born on Valentine’s Day, and was named after it, Vallee. My parents were young—just 20 when they had me as their first born. While growing up, I always had the youngest parents compared to my friends. My mom was beautiful and gregarious. At times she was compared to the famous actress, Elizabeth Taylor. Later in life I learned that most of the other boys in my high school class h

Just a few months ago, we adopted a one year old labrador mix, Milo. This was after we had lost all three of our dogs, Indy, Kiah and Kobe over the space of about six months. The three all had connections to two other labs, Star and Maggie, that had passed away a few years earlier. They were all best of friends. Adoption was not an easy or quick decision. We were adopting a stranger. Sometimes when I look into Milo’s eyes, I feel like I can see Star. When Star looked at