I think the police officer enjoyed stopping my Volkswagen bug in the parking lot of Independence High School just as my classmates were arriving for school.  With his blue lights flashing, the officer sashayed to my car and handed me a ticket for speeding, running a stop sign and, for good measure, reckless driving.  Students rubbernecked to see what dangerous criminal had been apprehended.  I was indignant because I was innocent, of course.

As many members know, I am challenged with ADHD, which I did not discover that I had until I was almost 30 years old and well past graduate school and law school. I have found that many in our profession are similarly afflicted. I have served as an instructor in CLE’s on this topic for this Bar and hope to do a follow-up on the topic in the future. With that said, one of the challenges that comes with ADHD is that one’s mind tends to operate very much like a television set constantly changing channels and weirdly at the same time, one’s mind can hyperfocus on something so fiercely that any actions or activity going on around the object of focus can be totally blocked out. Also, those of us with ADHD have an underlying level of pent-up energy that lends itself well to the engagement of trial work or high-pressure contract negotiation.  So, as one can imagine, at the end of each day, every day, those of us with ADHD generally have to spend some time settling down and reflecting upon the activities of the day. This helps to recenter us and refocus us as we move forward and candidly, doing this makes it easier to fall asleep in the evening.   

I have written in the past about my father’s vocation as a pastor, however, I have not mentioned the fact that one of my father and mother’s non-vocational advocations was to perform marionette shows throughout North Carolina, including schools, malls, churches and a few times on local television in Durham.

I went to high school in Louisburg, NC, which is about 30 miles north of Raleigh. Louisburg is the location of Louisburg Junior College and where my father was charged to be as his Methodist Pastoral appointment in the mid to late 1980s.

My father’s maternal great grandfather was a man named Adelbert Eugene Heath of Hastings Michigan. Adelbert Heath was a farmer and a chronicler of his daily life by and through his diaries which he kept from 1867 until his death in 1927. A few years ago, I was able to obtain a copy of these diaries and then they began to gather dust on the shelf for many subsequent years, until this year. 

In the beginning of the second act of the 1993 movie “Groundhog Day”, the protagonist TV weatherman Phil Conners, played by Bill Murray, begins to realize that he may be doomed to re-live the same day of his life, over and over, in the small town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, where he is reporting on the Annual Groundhog Day festival. After he repeats the earlier days’ events, including the requirement to begin his “on air” report, he expresses into the camera “It’s Groundhog Day...again.”

The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic into our world and the subsequent collective pause that we all have undergone has created a crisis in all aspects of our lives. From the closing of schools, to the stay-at-home orders, to change in our daily routines, economic loss to our clients and practices and the tragic loss of life in our community and nationwide, life as we have known it, has changed.

To say these are unprecedented times is an understatement.  My previous column referenced spring and what that season represents by way of renewal, hope and growth.  Who could have imagined then that March Madness would have an entirely different meaning in 2020?  Stay at home orders, working from home while homeschooling[1], Zoom meetings dictating the frequency of showering and shaving… As I sit in my dining room office to write this, on March 97, 2020[2], I have no idea what the status of our community, state and country will be at the time of publication.  I certainly hope the curve will have flattened (or, better yet, declined) and that our citizens, particularly those health care heroes on the front lines, will be safe and healthy.

Spring is my favorite season.  Flowers blooming.  Birds chirping.  The Blue Devils (hopefully) winning.  And, as you know, spring represents renewal and hope, youth and growth.  But while the days of being able to legitimately claim youth may have passed for me (and some of you), we can all celebrate renewal, hope and growth.

Notwithstanding the headline, you are not required to read the rest of this column in the voice of Barbara Walters.  Likewise, if you do read the rest of the column, I hope you will not channel John Stossel and say, “Give me a break!”