Speeding Up to Smell the Roses

SPEEDING UP TO SMELL THE ROSES

Stuart Banner•

They say SO’C is retiring. I don’t believe a word of it. Not deciding cases any more-I’ll accept that. But not retiring.

This is a woman who packs more activity into her life than anyone I have ever known. My strongest memories from clerking all involve trying to keep up with her. I think it was my second day on the job when she took us whitewater rafting. Then it was the National Gallery, Harpers Ferry, the National Arboretum, a picnic by the cherry blossoms, sailing on the Eastern Shore somewhere else every few weeks. My favorite was a behind-the-scenes tour of a U.S. Postal Service building where they were testing what were then futuristic mail-sorting machines. If you could get there from the Court within a couple of hours, SO’C got there, and she brought us along.

This wasn’t quite stopping to smell the roses. It was more like speeding up to smell the roses. And learning why they smelled the way they did. And how one could become a better rose-smeller. And what steps one should take to improve the quality of roses and the breadth of their distribution. And then moving on to the next set of flowers down the road. SO’C was interested in learning about everything and everyone.

Then there were all the people who came through the office. It seemed like every day there were visiting judges from some place or another, or one of my relatives who just happened to be popping in. (It’s funny how they never came to see me at any of