Hello, all. I hope to join you for the reunion, but things are still uncertain for next summer. My two eldest children are getting married (uh, not to each other), my 22-year-old daughter, Julia, in June and my 26-year-old son, Ben, in September. I have a third child, Sam, who we’re trying to convince to be ring-bearer, but at 16-years-old and 6 foot 2 inches, he is oddly resistant to walking down the aisle with the 4-year-old niece of his future sister-in-law. Teenagers!
My wife, Alice, and I have been married for 29 years (yes, to each other) and have lived for the last 22 of them in Napa, California. With the children operating independently for the most part, she has taken a position as a Teaching Assistant in Special Education classes at one of the local high schools. (Not the one attended by our 16-year-old. See above reference: Teenagers!) I currently serve as Executive Director of a non-profit social services agency that functions as Napa County’s Rape Crisis Center, Elder Abuse Crisis Center, Victim/Witness Services Center and Volunteer Center.
Napa Valley is an extraordinary place to live because of its beauty and international reputation, which brings the rich and famous regularly to the area. For example, a few years ago, I was at a prestigious restaurant in the Napa Valley, and who should be in the next booth but Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz. This was back when they were an item. Unfortunately, they were in a serious discussion and poor Penelope was crying. It was obvious that they were breaking up . . . right there . . . in the booth next to me. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I couldn’t help it. Penelope kept saying, “Tell me why,” in her native Spanish. “Diga me porque,” she said, “Diga me porque.” To which Tom replied, “Of course I dig you baby, but I’d dig you a lot more if you stopped calling me porky.”
Still crazy after all . . .
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