1968

John J Cosgrove with grandkids - 1968

My grandfather was a lawyer by trade but his passion was writing.  So when he was asked to record his first Christmas memory, he went to another room to write everything down.  You can hear in his voice that he is reading his draft. And you certainly can hear the precision of the lawyer coming out. “That was the Christmas when I was three years and two months old.”  Though it may lack some spontaneity, it would have been a shame for my father to insist that he do it without the preparation that he felt he needed.  Because, forty years later, I can hear who he was through not only his words but also through his presentation.  I can hear the prepared, precise, and measured man that mentored a generation of lawyers in writing and brief preparation.

It’s an important lesson to me again in how much meaning is conveyed beyond the words themselves. And how important it can be to let your subjects be themselves.

Here’s his Christmas story as he wished to present it.