30th Wedding Anniversary

Thirty years ago today Susan Zirinsky and I were married at San Francisco's City Hall.  We eloped on a Friday, the day after the Democratic National Convention ended.  Susan and I had been living together in Washington DC for nearly five years, so the fact we got married was no surprise.  The surprise was where we married.  Nonetheless, a round of calls to Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, our mothers and fathers were met with joy and great happiness.  

For the next decade we each continued in our roles at CBS News.  I left CBS News in 1995 to take a position as President Fox News.  I had been hired by Rupert Murdoch to begin a "proper news."  But one year later Murdoch decided to bring in Roger Ailes as Chairman of Cable and News.  Since my contract had been breached, I decided to resign rather than be part of an "alternative" news organization.  I informed Ailes of my decision in his office, and then immediately headed to the Spence Chapin adoption agency.  Susan and I decided to use the time I would be sitting out my expiring contract to adopt a Chinese girl.  China's one child policy saddened us. 

Several months later we were informed our adoption had been approved.  We were shown a picture, the size of a passport photo, and given little information.  By January of 1997 we were off to China to pick up our adoptive child.  We decided to name her "Zoe" because that means life in Greek.  We also combined "Z" from Zirinsky, and "oe" from Joe.  Zoe's middle name would be the name she was given by her Tong Ling orphanage, Tong Cao.  We were told that translates to "spring grass," which is where Zoe was found. 

We loved Zoe from the first second we set eyes on her.  Susan and I both had demanding schedules, I commuted to Miami for seven years, but weekends and nights were devoted to Zoe.  It is hard to understand how an adoptive child will adjust in life, or how a Chinese girl will adapt to a world filled with blue-eyed, blond hair girls.  The social pressures are enormous on most children in this age of social media.  Adolescence can be a difficult time emotionally for any child as the are still developing and maturing.  Of course, academics and college tests and acceptances are overly competitive.  Then, for girls, there are boys.  Having been a boy, I know they are predators.  What stress on even the most stable kids.

Throughout Zoe's sophomore and junior year all of the stress factors began to take their toll.  Zoe had to leave school weeks before the end of her junior year in order to receive proper treatment.  For the past year she as been under the care of the wonderful doctors at McLean Hospital, just outside Boston.  She has shown enormous progress, and she graduated from high school from an affiliated school. 

So it is with this brief explanation that I share with you our most wonderful 30th anniversary gift, via Facebook, the words of our only child, the love of our life, Zoe Tong Cao Peyronnin (aka Luna Feline Capello).

"alright here we go. happy thirty years you guys, as much as you piss me the fuck off, and as much as I feel like I hate you sometimes... well that's life, and you wouldn't do half the shit you do to me if you didn't love me. I know sometimes you blame yourselves for where I am now, but when it comes down to it, you've saved my life, in more ways than one and I think you guys need to realize that. I wouldn't be who I am or where I am if you hadn't adopted me and well, even though life can be a nasty son of a bitch, I'm thankful you've supported me through it all. so thank you both, you shit heads, for loving me regardless of who I am and my mistakes, I really wouldn't be alive without you and that's a fact, so give yourselves credit for once because I love you. thank you."

 

 

Dateline: San Francisco

There is no city more charming and beautiful in the United States than San Francisco. As I stand on our balcony at the Fairmont Hotel, it is a clear day and the early morning sun can be seen rising from the east beyond San Francisco Bay. Already freighter ships and sail boats dot the horizon while the Trans America building an other skyscrapers stand as sentinels watching over the city.

But almost in a flash low lying fog and mist can envelope the city, hugging tightly to the rolling hills that undulate through the romantic metropolis. From our hotel room high above California Street, the clanging of trolley car bells call out to residents and tourists. Many people squeeze onto the slow moving relics as they slowly strain up and down city hills.

There is no hustle and bustle here. No wonder, walking up and down the steep inclines is physically challenging. Take Lombard Street, which esses its way downhill, and is always filled with shutter bugs and slow moving vehicles. It was built to accommodate Nineteenth century horse carriages, riding straight up the this hill would have been impossible.

On Saturday we attended the Fillmore Jazz Festival which runs some twenty blocks between Eddy and Jackson Streets. Each block is filled with shops, outdoor booths music. We then to a cab over to Fisherman's warf for a late lunch.

It was Haight Ashbury and Golden Gate Park on Sunday morning. Then we walked across the Golden Gate bridge with hundreds of tourists from all over the world. The winds gusted but the views were invigorating. To the left stood San Francisco's skyline and Oakland and Berkley just beyond. To the right lay the Pacific Ocean and China some 8,000 miles away. At night we celebrated our twenty-fifth anniversary at the fabulous Gary Danko's restaurant. We eloped at San Francisco City Hall in 1984, one day after the Democratic Convention. We also first met James L. Brooks, which is a whole other story.

Susan left for New York Sunday to produce a special on Michael Jackson's funeral. So Monday night Zoe and I will attend a Giants game as guests of the COO, Larry Baer. We may drive up to Napa valley during the day. And on Wednesday Susan rejoins us, and we are off to Carmel-By-The-Sea.

But our visit centers around San Francisco. There will never be another city built like it. Today, engineers would simply bulldoze the hills and flatten out the streets. Charm, character and interesting architecture fill every nook and cranny. This city embraces the future while it cherishes the past. San Francisco is cool.