Thanks Tom,

One of the gifts my parents left us with is a very strong sense of family. There was never an question if we would take him. In fact, there were 4 separate placements for him within the family, all willing. The only question was which would be the best for him. There was us, already in town with a 3 bedroom house for just the 2 of us, my sister, in town but single, my brother and his wife, who were great parents to their two but live 200 miles away and my nephew and his wife who haven't had any kids yet.

This strong sense of family is one of the greatest gifts you can give your children. I'm 56 now but all during my youth and adulthood, I've never been afraid to take risks, whether financial, career or otherwise, because there was always the family I could fall back on if all else failed and it's paid off. My wife and I spent 2 years cruising our Tayana 37 and in a few minutes, I'm driving down to the LA area where I'll be closing the deal on our new boat, a Kelly-Peterson 44 on which we plan to depart again next august .