2015 was a pivotal year. I started to feel the burden of running my vineyard business, especially dealing with government reporting and payroll issues. I decided in late August, it was going to be my last grape harvest. I quickly secured the sale of all my equipment and informed my clients of my decision. The first of October, I issued the last batch of checks as I was saying goodbye to my vineyard workers. I woke up the following Monday morning free of my professional obligation, with no doubt in my mind I had made the right decision. My good friends Rick and Laura Wilson arranged a wonderful retirement party. Everybody signed a lazy Susan made from the head of a wine barrel. I also was presented the framed customized license plates VTICULT that my children gave me on a birthday in my forties, that I have proudly placed on many pickup trucks ever since. Thank you, all of you!
A couple of years earlier, Melanie, Jack, and Logan needed a comfortable place to stay, and came to stay with me. I often gave the boys a ride to their schools. Logan wanted to have chickens. On a Saturday with the help of two of my vineyard workers, I built a nice enclosure in a corner of the yard. A friend gave us some chickens and one night Logan discovered a couple of eggs. What an happy kid! The following summer, he was going door to door selling eggs in the neighborhood. I was very happy to have their company and I still call Logan, “Logi Log,” the nickname I gave him when he was a little kid.
As soon as I retired I quickly made a plan to downsize. In 2016, I purchased a home that I completely remodeled inside and out. It took a few months and I moved in early November. I took the essentials with me, especially furniture and tapestries from my parents house that I treasured. It was quite a relief to simplify my life, with no more pool to worry about and all that space to maintain. I was starting a new chapter.
Nick and Sunny wanted to take Julien to France and they invited me to go with them. We stayed at the Hughes’s apartment in Paris and we spent a lot of time with Caroline and her family. I met with Thomas, Bernard’s younger son, whom I hadn’t seen for quite a while. We took the train down to Libourne. We all connected over great meals with Rosy and Michel and their families. In spite of distances and language barriers, we were all very happy to see each other. It was a great trip, as I admired Nick and Sunny as a married couple and Nick becoming a father. I was so proud and so happy!
Caroline and her family, as they did every year, arrived in Santa Rosa for a few weeks.They stayed in their beautiful home overlooking the city. They entertained the family around the pool and bbq. Another perfect summer. After they went back to Paris a fire ignited in the hills a few miles away.Extremely dry air and fierce winds pushed the fire into Santa Rosa.Five thousand homes burned to ground including Caroline and Martins home.A few family heirlooms and precious momentous were gone. The family gathering place was no more.
Fall 2017, Elliot was born a few weeks premature while his parents were vacationing in Los Angeles. Elliot, clinging to life, and his mom flew back to the Bay Area in an air ambulance and were rushed to the hospital. I went to see him a few days later, still heavily monitored. He was so small and so precious—and it all turned well.
