I don’t know all of you, but many of you know me. When I first moved to this community 36 years ago, I was a young man. Now I’m old; that’s the way of things. Over these many years I’ve occupied positions of public office, volunteered as a commissioner, owned several businesses, and have written a weekly column for over 25 years. Now I volunteer to run our local newspaper.
I feel great affection for Sonoma Valley and the people who reside here. You’ve trusted me to make important decisions for this community, and I’ve trusted you, sharing my thoughts, feelings, and personal life, never more so than over the last year and a half. When my wife of 50 years died a year and a half ago, I was blessed with an outpouring of care, concern, and, yes, love. To be embraced by this community in that way did not take away my pain, but it softened it. And when my daughter had a stroke a month ago, I again felt placed into that same cradle of loving kindness. I thank you for that.
This is my home and in a truly remarkable way, this community has become my extended family. Like members of any family, we sometimes have differences of opinion, but when it comes to the importance of caring for and about this place and its people, we agree.
It bothers me when some big talkers try to take advantage of and exploit financial opportunities here. I’ve watched one after another say how much they “love” Sonoma, and it’s always raised a red flag for me, justifiably, it turns out. In my public life protecting this community has always felt like protecting my family, and now facing the challenges of age and misfortune, I feel protected by you.
My sister lives in Manhattan, a city of 8 million people, but all her friends have moved away. When she saw this community’s reaction to the challenges in my life on Facebook, she told me she felt jealous. She does not enjoy the warm embrace of a community as I do, and I’m not sure how many other people do.
Being as public as I have been means giving up my privacy. I still have a few secrets, but not many; that’s the way it is within a family and it’s been worth the risk. Being open has meant that people feel easier about being open with me. It’s lovely, if at times a bit startling.
There’s more to gain by being open, I think, than there is to lose. We are all human, after all, filled with hopes and disappointments, both dreams and nightmares, and suffer the effects of the passage of time. There is far more that we share than that we do not.
It’s not a cliché: Home is where the heart is, and my heart is right here with all of you. This is where I plan to spend the rest of my life, and I can’t think of a better place to do that. I don’t know how many more years I have left, but then none of us do; death can come suddenly, and without warning. In the meantime, I have found purpose living here, the opportunity to serve this community, a great gift that rewards me daily.
