On Tuesday before our visit, Ted called and invited me (and the kids) to attend his court hearings! He told me to arrive at the Pioneer Court House downtown Portland before 9 am, and that he'd tell security that we'd be coming, so they could give us "family clearance" (don't know exactly what that means, but hey--great!).
I left Karissa and Anna with my friend Elee, and took her oldest two boys along with Ben and Ellie and me. We caught the MAX, which stopped right next to the court house. The kids were a bit giddy, and I was a bit nervous. Okay, more than a bit. I was nervous. The four of them ran up to the front doors of the courthouse, and rattled the doors to see which one would open. Just as I came up the stairs, out came a big, gruff security guard. He grumped at the kids, "Are you coming in, or just banging the doors?" I meekly replied that we were coming in. He sternly looked down at the kids, and said "There is court in session in here today, so you need to be quiet and calm. Follow your teacher, okay?!?!" The kids all nodded with big-eyed compliance. I shuffled them through the door, and we went through security. I think it helped reinforce the idea that this was a serious place.
I told the security guards that we were invited by Ted Goodwin. One of them said that "Judge Goodwin" had told him we'd be coming, and to tell us to go up to the second floor, where the court room was (I didn't realize there is only one court room). He suggested that we would want to sit in the anteroom and watch on the closed-circuit TV (I thought to myself, well I want to sit in the court room, and Judge Goodwin said I could!) We walked up the beautiful wood-carved staircase. At the top of the landing, the stairs opened up almost straight into the court room, with the anteroom on the left. We had entered a hushed atmosphere, and I immediately felt panicked by bringing four young children into this mix. I ushered them into the anteroom (which actually opened up completely on one side into the court room) to survey the situation and determine my "move." There were three rows of "pews" behind the divider (or whatever it's called!) On the other side of the divider were two large, ornate, solid wood desks, at which each a lawyer sat. At the front of the court room was a massive, raised, wooden counter/desk/platform where the three judges would sit. In front their "desk" was the court clerk.
As I stood there at the opening to the court room, trying to determine where we would sit, three young lawyers (I'm assuming--everyone was wearing a suit) walked up to me. I wasn't sure what they were going to say to me, so I started off by saying "We're here to watch the court session. Judge Goodwin invited us," hoping they weren't about to send me away. No need to worry! The first young man smiled and stuck out his hand, saying "I'm Matt. We are Judge Goodwin's clerks, and he asked us to come welcome you and make sure you are comfortable." WOW! What a welcome, what a gesture! I asked him if Judge Goodwin had told him about our World War 2 connection, and he said that yes, the judge had been telling them lots of war stories, and that he was a friend to my great-uncle. I told Matt that I thought we should maybe sit in the anteroom, and he said "no, you can sit in the front row--you're VIPs!" Oh my, I was speechless. So I herded my troupe to the front of the room, and some young, suited men got up and moved and let us sit down. I whispered threats to the kids, and urged them to look around and soak it all up--this was such a rare opportunity! We had only been sitting for about a minute or two, when the clerk rapped loudly with her mallet, and shouted "All rise! This court is now in session, may God bless the proceedings of the day" or something like that. We rose. The judges entered. I saw Ted. We both smiled.
No comments:
Post a Comment