Fall 2005:
Life in Sacramento is good. Allison and I just celebrated our 30th(!!!) wedding anniversary last month. Hard to believe. With her retirement early this year, we are now BOTH in the ranks of the "retired". Actually, that term is a misnomer. Allison remains on the Board of Directors for Northern California Families with Children from China, after having recently completed a two-year term as President. I am deeply involved in our girls' school, putting in triple the required parent-hours, largely with classroom time and field trips (not to mention shoulder-deep in homework). Our oldest daughter, Lianne (a sixth grader), will turn 12 in February, and is thriving at school and with after-school activities (ballet, piano, Mandarin, etc.). She even ran for and was elected Student Body Treasurer. Next year, she will enter middle school grades, either at her K-8 magnet school or via a transfer to one of Sacramento's middle schools. Our youngest, Julie, turns 9 next month and is doing quite well in 3rd grade, enjoying jazz funk dance, theater arts, and Mandarin after school. Both girls are extraordinary -- the wholly objective observation of a devoted father. Next summer is our family's targeted return visit to China -- our first visit since adopting Julie at 12 months of age (eight years ago) and Lianne at 6 months (eleven years ago).

Allison retired from a career in State government, having served for nearly a dozen years as Program Manager for the Division of Regulations for the Dept. of Health Services. Several years before, I retired as Executive Director (i.e., Chief of Staff) of the California Transportation Commission -- an 11-member body whose members are largely appointed by the Governor. I served there for over a dozen years in that capacity, and for another dozen years before that as Chief Deputy.

We've been in our current home for five years, following some twenty years in our earlier place. We are about 4 miles south of the Capitol, a block away from the Sacramento River.