Learning from the Past, Planning for the Future

Like millions of Americans I had a year of ups and downs with the holidays often summing it up quite nicely. And like millions of Americans I made New Years' resolutions and really, really hope (and will endeavor) to stick to them. Those for 2005 were to maintain and improve relations with members of my family and those I am/were related to by marriage or blood, read more and watch less television, do more to improve others' lives, become more fit by running a marathon and renew my wedding vows in Scotland, where my wife and I were married. All in all I think I did reasonably well. My resolutions for 2006 include continuing to pursue saving and bringing home many of our deployed troops, advocating on behalf of minorities, women and the underrepresented, strive to make at least 100 lives better with the goal of asking these people to do the same, improve the quality of my own body, spirit, and mind, and win the Democratic Primary for US Senate. If you're going to live, live LARGE.

As I shared, my wife and I have a blended family from prior marriages. Our eldest daughter is recently married and lives in Arizona with her husband who aspires to be an anesthesiologist (yep, had to spell check that one). Our second eldest lives in Florida with her Mom and step-dad. She's the one who was accepted to Northwestern. Our relationship has its ups and downs. The interesting thing is with the help of my former State Senate opponent, my fist wife has been put in touch with my second wife, who has had no contact with her for almost a dozen years, presumably to see what they can brew up. Mind you my first wife and I haven't been together going on 16 years. Our foreign exchange student was in Florida visiting with family during Christmas. My wife’s and my parents are to the winds (my dad passed away almost a decade ago, so I'm in the market for a "Dutch Uncle/Rabbi"). My Mom lives in Pennsylvania and sister just outside of DC. Most of us are getting together today to celebrate the holidays as a family. Such is politics in public as it is in private. Most who believe those running for office are without flaws are setting the stage for hypocrisy, so I'd rather skip that act.

The good thing is my kids have been able to exchange gifts and emails with little help on my part. Our third eldest son visited his sister in Arizona for the holidays and recently chose to live with an aunt to finish out his high school in California. Our two youngest (boy and girl) were with their mom during the holidays as we alternate them each year. By and large, this seems to work for them and keeping the peace is preferable to the alternative of making lawyers richer. This reminds me I failed to mention restraint is as much a female "strength" as it is a male, characteristic in my Alito - GOP Conservative letter to the editor.

Finally, I think a meeting I had yesterday while my family sat down for lunch and two recent press excerpts posted today on the website sort of sum things up. Ian Donnis of the Providence Phoenix, in his interview with me, suggested I was polite and showed humility. This has been no small feat, because I was often larger than life until I met my wife who is as centered a person as I've ever met. She has taught me to be a better man, really. My lunch guest shared two observations, I need to "pump up the volume (passion)" to allow people to feel what I have to say, because he thinks my message is on the money. The other thing he shared is some at the HI-Hat gathering did not want to have their pictures taken because they were perceived to be Whitehouse and Brown supporters and some were afraid of losing their municipal jobs and/or contracts. If this is true, just how pathetic has politics become? The two excerpts were from the Woonsocket Call and the New York Sun. In the former, the staffer suggests offhandedly how the press should be providing more coverage because of the things I have shared, but doesn't state why it isn’t. On the other hand, an out-of-state paper based on polls from the Chafee camp has suggested I would beat Laffey in a general election and rightfully described me, not Matt Brown, as the "bring home the troops" advocate. So like most this year, we'll plug along and do our best to make a difference.