Dear Mr. Lupia,

This is not an “official” letter. Some thoughts came to mind after our last meeting and I wanted to share some ideas I had with you. I remember telling you about Judge Major, and how he has treated me very fairly and with patience. You told me he was a “new” judge -- and a lot of the other guys would have just told me, “this is how its gonna be...”

I imagine Judge Major must still be a little “humbled” by the position he holds. Our society has given him an awesome power -- and he still uses it carefully. I imagine he still remembers he is a public “servant”. I can’t help but wonder how you felt when you did your first few cases as a law guardian -- there you were, a very key say in where this child lives. What a tremendous responsibility. I am not sure how you feel now, 17 years later -- sounds like you started your career around the same time I started mine. I didn’t have the same responsibilities as you as an Instructor Pilot.

When I saw those new kids come up to my desk on their first day of “Jet Training” I knew the pressure they were under. There they were, Pilot Training, probably a place they wanted to be their whole lives, dreamed about it, been sent off by friends and family to “touch the sky” -- but what if they couldn’t hack it? What if they had to go back home, grounded! I made it my special job to make sure I did everything I could for them. I was humbled knowing I’m going to help this kid achieve his dream -- sometimes it got “old hat” for me, but it was always new to them. I was lucky, I never had to “wash” a student out of training.

You know Joe, we had a good talk in your office. But I want you to know I was surprised by a couple of things. The first one was when we talked on the phone and you said, “you can come to talk, but I’m not changing anything...” -- wow! The second was when you didn’t want to talk to some of those professionals about my nature and past behavior. Still hard for me to understand that. Imagine how a parent feels, as they see contact with their child slipping away...

Oh, before closing I want to make you aware of something (before you get it back door). A psychologist Adrianne has been seeing submitted a very derogatory letter to the Court (seemed to be written based on just her side of the story). I couldn’t believe a professional would “slam” one party in an acrimonious divorce without at least trying to hear the other side. I wrote the office a letter and got no reply ... I will be pursuing this.

I did send Adrianne a brief letter about trying to see Dom starting at 8am on Wednesdays, we’ll see what happens. Pretty soon it will be Christmas time -- always a time for miracles!

John Murtari