By the time y’all read this we will be moving out of February and into March. This season brings me immense happiness, but also carries incredible frustration. I love spring because it means baseball is coming back. Take Easter and Groundhog Day, roll them into one and that’s the day I embark on the annual trek to Phoenix, Arizona. My Dad, my little brother, and my two little boys head over to watch Major League Baseball’s Spring Training. Days are spent watching sleepy baseball games while enjoying the beautiful weather and getting to spend generally uninterrupted time with my boys. But, for those of you in west Texas (I’ll even count Lubbock as part of that for these purposes, although a map would prove each of my friends up there to be wrong). March means the god-awful, sand-filled wind that brings along all of the dust anyone could ever bear, and some we can’t. I hate the damned spring winds. But, I suppose that is life and it’s a little bit of a microcosm of what we experience pretty regularly. I don’t know of many people, save for Derek Jeter or Mickey Mantle (I’m a Yankee fan), who probably experience the highs that we do when we get two-word verdicts, especially in the cases we’re supposed to lose. But, I don’t know that most folks know the pain of sitting next to someone you’ve worked your butt off to save only hear to the jury come back with one miserable word. I suspect maybe Jeter knew a pain close to that feeling when the Yankees lost to the Red Sox in ALCS after being up three games to none, but at least he didn’t have to get hit in the face with the damn dust-filled wind coming out of the west at a million miles per hour. Each issue I try to think of what I can say that could possibly reverberate with all of the criminal defense attorneys in this State. What ties bind us? Fortunately, or unfortunately, I think the ties that bind us are the extreme highs and lows of our practice. Be kind to one another because unless one of us is friends with Derek Jeter, the only people that truly know how high and low we feel at work are the brothers and sisters we encounter in court, correspond with on the Listserv, and see at CLEs and Board meetings. Just like I know that only my dad completely understands the beautiful experience of rebirth that I feel getting to spend days at baseball games with my young sons. Also, I know that only the men and women of this organization completely understand how I feel when I walk a client out of a courtroom after a hard-fought battle. Just the same, only the folks of west Texas (yes, even Lubbock) know how bad the wind sucks in March, and only the men and women who practice criminal defense know what it’s like to have your head caved in during a defeat. Keep fighting brothers and sisters. Rusty is just around the corner.
Be safe,
Jeep Darnell
