MEMBERSHIP
The Wellness Committee Remembers
Sri Hemanth Digumarthi ___________________________________________________________
“ Of all the paths you take in life , make sure a few of them are dirt .” - John Muir
ASHLEY M . BOWCOTT Berman Fink Van Horn PC abowcott @ bfvlaw . com
F or those of us who spend much of our time at a desk , it can be easy to forget how much natural beauty surrounds us , especially right here in our home state . Georgia is home to the starting point of the Appalachian Trail , the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains , and thousands of hiking trails . When I moved to Georgia in 2015 , I had every intention of getting out in nature and exploring everything that North Georgia has to offer . However , years would slip by with me making little time to get outdoors . On the rare occasions I made it out on a hike , I found myself thinking , “ Wow this is nice . Why do I not do this more often ?”
As an attorney , things only became more hectic . For all of us , life gets busy , things get in the way , and competing obligations dictate how we spend our time . In a high-stress industry like our own , it is even more important to take time to slow down and connect with nature . However , it is not always easy to practice what you preach . One person who did so , though , was Sri Hemanth Digumarthi .
Hemanth was a member of the Atlanta Bar Association Wellness Committee and quickly became the heart of the committee as he regularly led hikes at different trails in the Atlanta area . Each time we met to discuss upcoming Wellness Committee events , he expressed his eagerness to plan the next hike and devoted many weekends to scoping out suitable trails for future hikes . One weekend , I found myself in town for the Wellness Committee hike and decided to join . It was a last-minute decision as I had been running errands that morning and made it home just in time to get back in the car and make it to the East Palisades Trail at the scheduled start time . I loaded the car up with my fiancé , stepdaughter , and two dogs in tow and registered for the event as we were driving to it .
When we arrived , the narrow dirt road to get to the parking lot was packed with cars heading both ways , leaving us at an impasse as they navigated how to get past one another . As we waited to enter the parking lot , hoping we would be able to snag a spot , I felt my anxiety rise . I wondered if I would be able to find the group , and , if we needed to park elsewhere , how I would signal to them to wait for us if they did not know to expect us . I kicked myself for waiting so long to register and wondered if we should just throw in the towel and head back home .
Luckily , we were able to find a spot , but we still had to get my stepdaughter and the dogs situated . By the time we approached the group , I was feeling frazzled to say the least . My stepdaughter grew restless as we waited on additional hikers to show up and the dogs whined at everyone who passed by . Hemanth waited patiently as our fellow hikers navigated the parking situation . Although I had only registered myself for the hike , he happily welcomed my whole crew while I was second guessing my decision to have all this chaos accompany us .
As we began the hike , Hemanth made his way through the group , introducing himself and taking a moment to connect with each person who had made it . Because it had rained the day before , he adjusted our route to ensure we would not get muddy and warned the group as we passed slippery or soft spots on the trail . Hemanth mentioned that he had been out on the trail with his dad some weeks before to map the best path for the Wellness Committee Hike . I remember picturing him and his dad out on the same trail ,
36 August / September 2022