5 minute read
President’s Message
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE By: Cheryl G. Rice
Egerton, McAfee, Armistead & Davis, P.C.
PHONE WALLET KEYS
Laptop, phone, wallet, passport, keys. Maybe you’re not an Adam Sandler fan, and this refrain from one of his original songs is unfamiliar to you. Over the years my husband, Bill, has introduced us all to the work of certain SNL performers, and Sandler is chief among them. He’s got that gift of relaying the irony of common experiences while coming across like the goofy kid next door (even at his current age of 54). “Phone Wallet Keys” is right up there with some of Sandler’s best works. One of my children recently shared a YouTube clip of Sandler performing it with me, and his tonguein-cheek rap commentary on the “necessities” of everyday life resonated. If you can put up with a few four-letter words, I suggest you queue it up on your preferred device. In it, Sandler pays homage to the apparent fact that we cannot go anywhere without our phones these days, not to mention the other “things” (“laptop, charging pack, headphones, Tic Tacs, …”) that have become seemingly indispensable in our modern our lives. Sandler jokes, “Each time I leave my house it’s like I’m camping . . . .” How right he is.
A few weeks ago, preparing to go on a long-planned and highly anticipated bucket list vacation with my family, I started making a list of the things we planned to do on the trip and the gear we would need to bring along to make all that happen. Together with my hiking boots, snapback, bathing suit, sunglasses, and clothing options for a variety of weather possibilities were the cell phones, camera, my daughter’s GoPro, Bill’s laptop, my iPad, multiple sets of headphones, memory cards, batteries, charging blocks and cables galore. Throw in some lip balm, a good novel, and a travel guide, and I was Sandler’s walking lost and found. Somehow we were able to fit all that into our carry-on-sized roller bags and reached our destination and my dream spot—a western valley boasting access to several national parks—without incident. I arrived full of confidence that given the time difference between our location and my home here in Knoxville I was going to be able to knock out e-mails, any high priority client projects, administrative tasks, and yes, even this article, during the early morning hours before the kids were up and before our daily plans got underway. I came prepared and had it all figured out.
The thing I took for granted in my planning before heading to that relatively remote locale was the existence of consistent WiFi and normal cellular service. Wide-open country meant that sometimes even radio stations were hard to come by as we drove along. Reliable WiFi was somewhat intermittently available, and decent cell phone service was only to be had in town (or in certain unexpected spots in the mountains where not only was I afraid to take my eyes off the trail long enough to check an email lest I take a tumble, but also work was not, at that moment, a high priority). When I did receive e-mails, I had long delays in downloading attachments. I couldn’t write this article because I hadn’t considered that I wouldn’t be able to connect to my firm’s server well enough when I had planned to be able to use Word through our VPN or that I might need to download Apple’s word processing software to my iPad instead. And, let’s face it, the rest of my family was enjoying that same time difference I had planned on taking advantage of to do work, meaning our days were starting earlier and, consequently, my anticipated work time was much shorter. As a result, I found myself—initially somewhat by force and ultimately by choice—doing what I had set out to do with my family: taking a vacation. What a blessing. Not only did we have some great laughs and share some wonderful sights; we got away from our daily routine and cares. My youngest was forced to lay down her cell phone and, instead of posting photos on social media and texting with friends back home, she rediscovered her love of reading, completing two novels and starting a third while not missing out on any of the family times. Bill and I rode bikes through the small town where we were staying just for the fun of it. Evenings became the time to play a game, throw a line in the nearby creek, or watch birds as the day came to an end. We were rewarded with beautiful sunsets, unexpected visits from local wildlife, and memories to last a lifetime. To again quote Adam Sandler, despite my initial reluctance in the end it was “a breez-ee” to lay aside those devices. And it became easier by the day. Sitting by the banks of a slowly moving river listening to birdsong and enjoying the peace of a quiet morning, I contemplated the fact that August is upon us. It seems hard to believe the summer is almost over. Vacations and the other standard summertime activities are wrapping up. Students are heading back to class, and some of us are experiencing that heavyhearted feeling that is sometimes there when a good time comes to an end. I hope that you have taken an opportunity during the somewhat slower pace of summer to get away, too, even if for only a few hours. And, if you haven’t yet, I hope you will make time soon to break free from your routine and enjoy a bit of respite. We all need to be recharged, and whether we do it by spending a few hours reading a good book, relaxing in a local park, or by taking a longer trip to somewhere farther away matters not. The important thing is that we do it—for ourselves and knowing that we, our loved ones, our colleagues and our clients will all benefit from us doing so. Make time to pare life down to the essentials, whether that be phone, wallet, and keys, or something else, and take it easy … you deserve it.