“I have chocolate covered donuts from Baker’s Pride,” I whisper in their ears. It’s still pitch black dark out thanks to last week’s switch to daylight savings time and there’s not much else that will get my kids out of bed quickly like those melt-in-your-mouth delicacies from Derenne Avenue. But if we don’t get going and out the door soon, we’ll be out of luck for parking and out of luck for a good vantage point.
It’s St. Patrick’s Day in Savannah. This year marks the 202nd anniversary of this event. To say it’s an important tradition for families in Savannah is an understatement. I know many people who watch from the same square every year, enjoying corned beef sandwiches and a drink or two with family and friends. The traditions run from the religious (Mass at the Basilica Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist officially begins the day’s festivities) to the cheesy (I know a family that gets a giant container of cheese balls every year for their snacks). Year after year, in warm weather and cold, rain or shine, these traditions carry forward from parent to child and from generation to generation. The faces around the picnic table and under the canopy may change some from year to year, but the traditions continue and evolve and adapt. It is a celebration of community for Savannah, and one we share publicly and openly with anywhere from 300,000 to 500,000 guests each year!
Traditions often run deep in helping resolve family law problems. They can also be a sticking point in many parenting plans. In all cases in Georgia involving minor children, we have Parenting Plans that set out the annual calendar for the children involved. These Plans can be very Spartan or quite robust depending on the needs of that particular family. One thing that often gets overlooked are the holidays outside of the typical “big” ones: Thanksgiving, Winter Break, and Spring Break. For thousands of the Savannah Chatham County families we serve, St. Patrick’s Day is not to be overlooked. It’s why hiring local counsel is so critically important because until you live here and work here and see your friends and neighbors marching in the parade, you just won’t get it.
Local knowledge, local courts. You have to know which way the waters run. You have to know the parade route. You have to know what is important, where and why. Otherwise, you are just spitting into the wind and you know how that ends up.
I hope to see you at the parade but only after I get the chocolate cleaned off these kids’ faces…Slainte!
David Purvis
