As I look out my hotel window in Nashville and have country music songs running through my head, I feel very refreshed by the past 36 hours.I'm here for the 15th Annual NACLNC conference, held at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel www.gaylordhotels.com/gaylord-opryland. For my first time in Nashville, I have experienced some great things while here. Meeting fellow Certified Legal Nurse Consultants from around the United States has been great, but the highlight thus far was spending about 9 precious hours yesterday with David and Heidi Casey, two dear friends of ours from the past (Caseys pictured above with their two dogs. And what's with the Ohio State sweatshirt? Come on, man!).
I first met David and Heidi at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1993. I was a lonely freshman and David was working on his Master's degree at the time. David and some close friends spent a great deal of time with me...treating me like a close friend and brother and teaching me things from the Scriptures that changed the course of my life in the fall of 1993.
Michelle and I became good friends with the Caseys as they turned out to be great mentors of ours from 1993 to 1999. David moved away (from Sioux Falls, South Dakota) in 1997 to finish his Master's and PhD and eventually returned in 1999 and helped perform our wedding ceremony in Sioux Falls.
We touched base with each other in 2000 and then 10 years passed until I found out that the Caseys lived just a stone's throw away from Nashville (in Hendersonville-actually, 20 miles away is quite a throw).
Proverbs 18:24 says that "A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." (NIV)
Even though 10 years have passed, spending 9 hours with the Caseys was just as good as old times. Just like the Caseys took care of me when I had $14 dollars to my name and no where to live for a short while in 1995, they treated me like a king yesterday by greeting me at the gate at the airport, introducing me to many of their close friends, buying me lunch, and showing me around downtown Nashville. I hope Michelle isn't jealous, but they even took me to the world famous country bar, Tootsie's http://www.tootsies.net/.
Thanks, David (and Heidi) for being that friend that "sticks closer than a brother." Even though 10 years have passed since we last communicated, it sure didn't feel like it!
By Brian Brandser, RN, BSN, CCRN, CLNC
