Rewind to that day in January 2015 when I was sitting around the burlwood table in Assemblymember Wood’s office in the California state capitol.
As I sat there, something happened to me personally that has never happened before or since (the “since” being much to Jim’s gratification, I am sure).
I was captivated by him, and I couldn’t pinpoint why.
I can’t say that it was animal attraction, because although Jim is undeniably handsome, that was not what drew me to him.
It wasn’t that he was well dressed, because damn near everybody in the capitol is.
It wasn’t that he said anything terribly brilliant that day, although he is without question one of the most brilliant human beings I have ever had the pleasure to know.
It was simply that my energy responded to him in a way it has never responded to anyone else. It is not something that I can explain better even now, six years later.
At that time, neither of us was in a position to contemplate any relationship, and that was certainly not something on either of our minds that day; Jim was still married at the time, though I would find out later that he had been long contemplating ending his marriage, and I was coming off a recent and quite hellacious divorce of my own and still enjoying my independence.
So, despite my immediate visceral reaction to Jim’s energy on that January day, it left as quickly as it came.
In fact, as the day progressed and my group carried on with the rest of the legislative office visits, Assemblymember Jim Wood was swept from my mind completely. Almost.
Yet he persisted. Not intentionally, of course, but over the next several months, my advocacy work in the capitol brought me into contact with him time and time again. I saw him in office meetings with CGA to discuss the bill he was working on, or in passing in one of the capitol hallways, or at an industry event at which he was speaking.
In June 2015, I was asked to be one of four panelists to speak on the status of cannabis regulation in Sacramento during a day-long cannabis event in Sebastopol, put on by the Sonoma County Growers Alliance. Jim had been a keynote speaker at several other such cannabis events earlier in the year, and I thought he might be on the slate for this one as well. To my disappointment, he was not.
But about halfway through the event, Jim showed up as an attendee. He wasn’t there to speak but to learn. While not in his district, Sebastopol was not far from his home. I said hello to him, and we exchanged the usual courtesies. I was a familiar face, and we chatted for several minutes before he walked away to mingle with the other participants.
When it was time for my panel, the event organizers learned that the fourth panelist was a no-show. Word of Jim’s attendance had spread, and the organizers quickly sought him out to ask him if he would fill in.
And just like that, I found myself seated next to him on the panel. Over the next couple of hours, I engaged in thoughtful cannabis-policy discussion, fielding questions from the audience, alongside one of California’s premier cannabis legislators of the year.
During that panel, I also happened to notice that Jim was not wearing his wedding ring.
That event put me on Jim’s radar. He was not quite as struck by my energy on our initial meeting as I was by his—it took him six months to catch up. But that’s okay; my ego can take it.
Our relationship stayed strictly professional until the end of the 2015 legislative session and until after he was separated from his now ex-wife. Later, as our relationship evolved into something more than professional, we were free to move toward the future together that we both knew we wanted.
In 2016, I stepped away from my advocacy work at the state level to avoid any potential conflict of interest created by Jim’s still being engaged in writing cannabis legislation. Although his bills only dealt with cultivation and never retail, we took no chances.
Every year, Jim has penned at least one bill on cannabis, tackling everything from regulatory cleanup language on cultivation to protecting the “cottage” growers to funding for environmental cleanup as related to unlawful cannabis activities, to the groundbreaking change in California’s Controlled Substance Act that paved the way for Epidiolex, prescription medication from GW Pharmaceuticals that was the first cannabis-derived drug to be approved by the FDA.
To date, Jim has thirteen cannabis bills to his name, more than any other California legislator.
California had finally begun to legitimize the industry. The legalization campaign for Prop 64 was under full steam toward the ballot boxes, and agencies were gearing up to regulate this behemoth of an industry. However, after the 2015 legislative session, I never set foot in the capitol as a cannabis advocate again. I had found the statewide advocacy work absolutely thrilling; despite the work that remained to be done, I had to leave it to others.
In 2016, I refocused my efforts back on local governmental outreach, which had been somewhat neglected in the year prior. Cities and counties were now grappling with the state’s sparkling new cannabis laws and needed help.
This work had always been what I considered one of the cornerstones of my success, and it was rewarding to reengage at the local level.
On a much more personal note, I found in Jim a partner of which dreams are made. For the past six years he has been my closest friend, my fiercest ally, my most trusted confidant, and my staunchest supporter, both personally and professionally. Without getting overly mushy, and keeping in line with this being a business book, I will simply state that it is my sincerest wish that those of you who decide to take an incredible leap of faith and follow your dream always have someone in your corner the way Jim has always been in mine (although this is also my wish for everyone).