There is a phenomenon out there called “six degrees of separation”. This old sociopsychological concept was first written in a short story close to a hundred years ago, and later backed by widespread research studies. The main idea is that most of us are just six steps away from anyone else on the planet. In other words, by way of just a handful of connections, one can usually be connected to another. For two local attorneys, Erin and Doug Christy, the late 1990s and early 2000s brought credibility to this. For them, the interconnectedness unknowingly came through a wise old mentor they share. Pete Dunbar was a law professor who had strangely gone on to hire each of them (for two different offices, three years apart). That is how it all began.

 

Erin was attending Sarasota High School back in ‘96, while Doug, from Boca Raton, had just moved to Sarasota to attend New College for his degree in economics. In ’01, Erin was starting her undergraduate education at Florida State University, and Doug was simultaneously starting law school there. In ’05, Erin was beginning law school at Florida State, while Doug, just finished, was being hired as an associate attorney at Pennington Law in Tampa by Dunbar. Dunbar had Doug as his law student in Condominium and Planned Community Law class. Shortly thereafter, Erin became his student as well. In ’08, Erin was also hired by Dubar to work at Pennington Law’s Tallahassee firm.

 

“We first met in Tampa at a client meeting, but really hit it off while drafting the script for our company’s holiday party play, put on by the associates”, Erin explained. “We went on our first date on December 23, 2008. I was in Sarasota, visiting my family for Christmas. Four years later, Doug rented out that entire restaurant where we had our first date in St. Pete and proposed! We were married in 2014 at New College”.

 

Nowadays, date nights look like a competitive Wednesday Trivia Night at Tamiami Tap. They show off their smarts with a fully stacked team of Southside Village neighbors and one dedicated founding member from Venice. “The Know Nothings”, were founded in some capacity in 2016, when they started off at Hillview Avenue’s Geckos.  They limped along for a while during the days of COVID but have made a major comeback in the past few years!

 

Now, the lawyers who work in the condominium/planned community and luxury real estate development sectors, are living under a banyan tree in a 1912 cottage, Erin explained. “The irony of that is not lost on us!”, she said. Their charming abode at 968 Citrus Avenue is a blue bungalow in Hudson Bayou. Its location is perfect for walking to Owen’s Fish Camp for drinks and fish spread, while the kids play on the tire swings and make new friends. They enjoy snuggling on their sofa with their French Bulldog, “TLC” (more on her later), while Erin practices perfecting the art of cross-stitching and Doug works on his racquetball skills. Everette and Adelaide, ages three and six, love flipping and cartwheeling around the living room, showing off the new skills they are learning in gymnastics. They celebrate family birthdays at the house by setting out a very special vase of flowers on the table- the same vase that Erin’s mom received flowers in on the day she was born at Sarasota Memorial Hospital. They love hanging out in the yard together, hoping the right individual might walk by and take Erin up on a driveway cocktail offer. Doug might have to pretend to be just as fond of those surprise encounters, according to Erin.

 

Erin just helped launch Trenam Law of Sarasota just this year, a full-service real estate firm of over 90 attorneys, serving Sarasota, St. Pete, and Tampa. An active volunteer since returning to Sarasota in 2009, the 2016 Junior League of Sarasota Community Impact Award winner finally started “practicing her no”, for a while, to focus on her “number one job” (being a mom) and “number two job” (practicing law). This year, she started “practicing her yes” again, and with a bang. She serves as the inaugural President for CREW (Commercial Real Estate Women) of Sarasota and Manatee counties. The network is dedicated to empowering and promoting women in the commercial real estate industry. The demand for an industry-focused group in the area was evident. The chapter hit one hundred members in its very first year.

 

Doug serves on the board of the New College Alumni Association, and is also a dedicated civil volunteer, having served on the City of Sarasota’s Nuisance Abatement Board and MPO Citizens Advisory Committee, while currently serving as a City of Sarasota Planning Board alternate. Erin says, “Our family loves late afternoons when the girls can watch Daddy on TV”.

 

“TLC” (Tellulah Lemon Christy) technically the family’s first-born child, is a canine by species. Nevertheless, the cute bulldog certainly considers herself one of the kids. According to her mother, she does lack traditional athleticism. Let’s be fair though. She has “brought it” on several occasions with the following cool-weather-only workout routine: 1) a single rep of trotting ahead during the first 5 feet of a walk, 2) taking a rest while everyone else catches up, 3) a second rep of trotting another 5 feet, and 4) a second rest. Outside of working out, she is good at napping and being held.

 

Everette (age six) is a Southside student who loves to playing piano and learning gymnastics. Every Monday she looks forward to “Everette Evening”, a special weekly arrangement with her grandparents. They pick her up, take her to piano lessons, and spend the rest of the night cooking together and doing all the things she loves. They later return her back to Citrus Avenue, all worn out and ready for bed. Erin’s grandmother used to do the same when she was little, except it surrounded her drum lessons back then, instead of piano. Side note: Erin’s talents led her to play on FSU’s Big Eight Drumline back in college! Hopefully Everette will similarly take on such a wonderful lifelong pursuit in music.

 

Adelaide (age three) also loves gymnastics and takes classes at the same place as her sister. She is a proud preschool student at Carrots Academy.

 

The family enjoys vacationing together at the Breakers in Palm Beach, a fan-favorite destination of their girls. Erin and Doug originally started going there for work trips, and Everette started coming along at some point. She got a taste of “the good life” there and looks forward to returning annually. They take photos in the same spot each year. The photo was initially one with Everette in Erin’s pregnant belly. A couple of years later it turned into one of Everette and Erin in matching “mommy and me” Lily Pullitzer outfits. This year it showed a happy family of four. They also enjoy a nice long trip to the beach each year, the day before school starts. Erin carries on this tradition from when her family started it during her childhood. She has come to realize, over the years, that the ritual is not all about fun and sun, but also about wearing out kids so that baths and early bedtimes can happen (with first-day excitement in the air, of course).

 

When asked about her favorite part of living in the neighborhood, Erin gives a good answer- “authenticity”. “We love that neighbors in their seventies stop by to buy lemonade on the corner from pop-up lemonade stands, ran by nearby toddlers. We also love how snowbird neighbors allow us to use their pool during the summers. You cannot create the sense of community that comes with an established neighborhood like Hudson Bayou. We would not want to live anywhere else!”

 

Erin, watch for us all to come walking along the neighborhood. We might seem like we are watching lawn gymnastics, but really we are all looking for a self-proclaimed driveway cocktail waitress. We hope you will offer your services. Doug won’t mind!