And
so, greetings and salutations to ADTA Nation!
I am writing from the slowly-but-surely thawing tundra of New England,
more precisely from 94 Meeting Street on College Hill in Providence, Rhode
Island.
Last
Sunday morning Karen and I reluctantly departed from the Greenbrier and headed
for Charleston, WV’s convenient Yeager Airport (why can’t all airports be like
Yeager?), about a 2 hour drive through the Allegheny Mountains and some of the
most beautiful country I’ve ever laid eyes on.
Made me wonder why we don’t have a meeting sometime in tents at a camp
ground up in the mountains. But then I remembered
that I don’t do tents. Indeed, my idea
of “camping out” is a great hiking trail at the end of which is a 4-star hotel
with a concierge floor and a spa...that’s my idea of the great
outdoors!
But
I digress…at Yeager Airport we said our third, fourth and fifth good byes to
Kevin and Alice Amatuzio (Denver bound), New Member Elizabeth Reid Dotson and
husband Ken (Kansas City), Bill and Maureen Staples (San Francisco), Brad
Narhstadt (Chicago) and Ray Lyons (ditto).
We reckoned the better plan would have been to hire a small motorized
hospitality suite to transport us there, but hindsight is always 20/20. I
wonder if anybody would be interested in a Magical Mystery Tour-style bus next year
that might start in, say, Providence, and pick up citizens of ADTA Nation on
the way to Vancouver? ADTA Nation in
motion! Might be a lot of fun,
come to I think of it.
The
real fun began at Dulles, where shortly after our arrival we learned that our 5 PM flight to
Providence was “cancelled.” Lord knows
why - United never told us. A phone call
to United resulted in a rebook to Boston via Reagan National – yup, no flights from Dulles to Providence…until Tuesday. They were joking, right? Afraid not.
And nope, United couldn’t give us back our luggage at Dulles to take
with us to Reagan National – apparently it is not possible for an airline to
identify bags from a cancelled flight and make them immediately available to the
cancellees.
No sir, they would continue on...there were no seats on the 9:30 PM home for Karen and me, but by George there was
enough room for our 4 bags, which for a moment made me wish my name was American
Tourister.
So,
having become bag-less, we taxied from Dulles to Reagan National. Acquired
boarding passes. Got through security – twice in one day, what a joy! Had a quick airport supper. Boarded the flight to Boston Logan Airport. Arrived at Logan about two hours later than we
had been scheduled to arrive at Green Airport in Providence. (Not bad!) Spent another
half hour at Logan arranging for our bags to be sent home. Then we took a taxi from Logan to Green Airport
in Providence (about 50 minutes). Picked
up our car which we’d parked there last Sunday.
Drove home … sweet … home (15 minutes).
All told, it could have been a lot worse. The lingering afterglow of
ADTA Nation and the Greenbrier made it tolerable.
And what a terrific meeting the Greenbrier was!
Inspired by Steve and Melinda Crislip, and artfully planned and executed by Tom and Julia Hurney and our superb Executive Director Peggy Schultz, and a host of others, including a terrific spouse program led by Melissa Bailey, and of course Project Orange, led by Tom and Julia, Leon Beukman and Anita Parke. (I saw you David Schultz helping to do the final clean-up on Sunday morning with Peggy and Hurndog at Project Orange…thank you!!) Skeet shooting, a Bunker Tour, excellent CLE, Mike Roberto and Stephen Coonts. And so many First Time Attendees and New Members whose enthusiasm is infectious. Not to mention the Greenbrier itself: A sublime place that kind of grows on you and whispers "you'll be back!"
Yes, indeed, ADTA Greenbrier 2013 will be long remembered.
For
me the days immediately following an ADTA annual meeting are always bittersweet. On the one hand, I relish getting back to the
office, catching up, and then at the end of a day’s work, going home. Getting comfortable in front of the family room TV. Taking in a little Duck Dynasty.
Or, maybe Pawn Stars. A Red Sox game! Along with other similarly highbrow
programs. Home … sweet … home. And yet, I can’t help but think about
the painfully short but oh-so-sweet time at the Greenbrier with our ADTA
friends, almost all of whom we see but once a year…never long enough. Thankful for the time together, but never
long enough.
This year, leaving the Greenbrier was bittersweet for another reason: It was exciting to assume the presidency and the challenges that accompany the office. But the meeting marked the conclusion of Steve Heine's presidency; and I shall miss working with him. Karen and I got to know Steve and his lovely and talented wife Karen Kendall (an ADTA member in her own right) pretty well during our travels "on the circuit" over the past year - a blessing that we thoroughly enjoyed. Steve is a tireless worker. He is a great trial lawyer who fights hard for his clients. Steve is in many respects the quintessential ADTA "defense trial attorney." And on top of everything he had to do over the past year in his busy trial practice (no, VERY busy trial practice!), he worked very hard to keep the ADTA ship of state steady and on course. Steve was an excellent president - I am proud of him and all of the citizens of ADTA Nation should be, as well. Karen was a gracious, wonderful ambassador as ADTA First Lady. Karen and I wish Steve and Karen all the best. They deserve it! We look forward to spending time with them at many more ADTA hospitality suites in the years to come!
And
so ADTA Nation marches on, in the spirit of the Greenbrier! That spirit will take us north and west
into Canada next April for ADTA Vancouver 2014. Between now and then your Executive Council and Officers have work to do. Please help us to make ADTA the best it can be: Look at the website (www.adtalaw.com) and let me, President-elect Dan Balmert, VP Matt Bailey, or any of the other council members (we are all listed on the website) know what you are interested in helping with. Let us know your ideas, comments, criticisms, concerns...whatever is on your mind. It is your ADTA and we need everyone's help to keep ADTA Nation strong!
I’ll
be back with you soon. Be well, ADTA Nation!
