Summer of fun

The youngest in our house declared that this would be her summer of fun.

For me, the most fun this summer outside of time with the family was time with my lawyer friends - in their homes, and at the Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference, events for the new judges, even events for Jill's library. The last of the swearings-in is today, when Eric Thiessen is made a judge of the General District Court, with my friends Roy Jessee and Jim Hodges speaking on his behalf. Previously, there were the events for Circuit Court Judge Deanis Simmons and Juvenile Court Judge Kurt Pomrenke, my long-time friend and co-worker and occasional co-conspirator in fun, as we saw the Virginia Cavaliers lose a lot of ball games together (and win some, too). I never had more fun at the Judicial Conference than I did this year, never saw more judges singing and dancing even in the absence of the late Chief Justice Rehnquist. I used to feel like an impostor there, with so many fancy people, and yet there are so many people there whom I am delighted to see. It is an occasion for the retelling of the very kind of stories that I most enjoy collecting.

These gatherings, combined with the 30th Circuit bench-bar event, the VSB event in Abingdon, and the memorial for Judge Williams, make it seem like in the past few months I have reconnected with almost all of the lawyers, and especially the Southwest Virginia lawyers, whom I have known these many years.

Miss K seems to have had the summer she wanted, including most recently her week at camp on the New River.