you.”
Dear Tess,
I apologize for last year’s letter. I was consumed with self-pity, guilt and loneliness that was probably obvious from what and how I wrote. My life will never be the same without Maggie but I’ve finally tried to move forward.
The sale of the business was finalized last September for $842 million. The money I made is crazy and most of my profits have been endowed to what has been renamed the Margaret Brewster Autism School. Even though Caroline is only twenty-two she has agreed to oversee the foundation and disburse the proceeds from our $200 million endowment on an annual basis. I trust her, more than anyone in the world, and I know she’ll do a wonderful job helping the cause her mother felt most passionate about. This is the same school Ben attended but now the school will double in size and eligibility will be based on a child’s needs and not their parent’s abilityto pay. No child will ever be turned away for financial reasons.
Getting back to the sale of Utonica, the timing of the sale might have been near perfect. We had many offers but kept waiting because the offers kept going up. Soon after we sold, the landscape of the dotcom world changed dramatically. Gone are the days of merely trying to aggregate millions of users without any idea how you’re going to make money. What’s that old saying, “Better to be lucky than good.”
Living in our home is hauntingly depressing and terribly lonely and I’ve contemplated a move back to the LA area. However, before that could happen I had three issues to resolve. First and foremost, Ben and his future, secondly, Caroline and what she intends to do and where, and finally, how could we keep my dear friend Sarah a part of our family.
I struggled and struggled with the best outcome for Ben and tried to gather as much current information as possible before making a decision. This included many hours of reading through the latest research and personal visits to a half dozen of the leading autism schools and facilities. Unfortunately there still isn’t much that’s new except for one very important statistic that did help me make an informed decision. The latest research estimates only about 5% of autistic adults live completely independently.
After lengthy discussions with Caroline we agreed the best solution would be to keep Ben in a school environment for at least several more years. We struggledwith whether we were just kicking the can down the road and then concluded that wasn’t relevant. The question then became whether to keep him at his old school or place him somewhere else. Before that decision could be made I had Caroline and Sarah to consider. Now with her law degree from Harvard Caroline has decided to take the California Bar. She also has responsibilities at the autism school that requires her to spend time in the Bay area, but her longtime boyfriend Reed is now practicing environmental law in LA and she wants to be close to him. They’re thinking Santa Monica.
Finally, decisions were made. First I wouldn’t sell our home. There really was no reason to sell it. After discussions with Ben’s teachers and therapists we realized UCLA has a wonderful autistic program that would fulfill Ben’s needs if I decided to move back to LA. Then Caroline and I had dinner with Sarah and her family to discuss our plans and how we could include her. Collectively we came up with a very creative solution. First, Sarah keeps her key to our Mountain View home and continues to maintain it. Secondly, Sarah will fly down to LA twice a month to help me. Basically, Sarah is now a fulltime employee and all her expenses will be covered. After resolving my three issues and with a great new opportunity my decision became easy.
I packed up and moved back to Southern California in February. Caroline helped me pick out a much bigger house than I need in Pacific Palisades on a bluff overlooking the ocean with a spectacular view of the Pacific. The best
Dear Tess,
I apologize for last year’s letter. I was consumed with self-pity, guilt and loneliness that was probably obvious from what and how I wrote. My life will never be the same without Maggie but I’ve finally tried to move forward.
The sale of the business was finalized last September for $842 million. The money I made is crazy and most of my profits have been endowed to what has been renamed the Margaret Brewster Autism School. Even though Caroline is only twenty-two she has agreed to oversee the foundation and disburse the proceeds from our $200 million endowment on an annual basis. I trust her, more than anyone in the world, and I know she’ll do a wonderful job helping the cause her mother felt most passionate about. This is the same school Ben attended but now the school will double in size and eligibility will be based on a child’s needs and not their parent’s abilityto pay. No child will ever be turned away for financial reasons.
Getting back to the sale of Utonica, the timing of the sale might have been near perfect. We had many offers but kept waiting because the offers kept going up. Soon after we sold, the landscape of the dotcom world changed dramatically. Gone are the days of merely trying to aggregate millions of users without any idea how you’re going to make money. What’s that old saying, “Better to be lucky than good.”
Living in our home is hauntingly depressing and terribly lonely and I’ve contemplated a move back to the LA area. However, before that could happen I had three issues to resolve. First and foremost, Ben and his future, secondly, Caroline and what she intends to do and where, and finally, how could we keep my dear friend Sarah a part of our family.
I struggled and struggled with the best outcome for Ben and tried to gather as much current information as possible before making a decision. This included many hours of reading through the latest research and personal visits to a half dozen of the leading autism schools and facilities. Unfortunately there still isn’t much that’s new except for one very important statistic that did help me make an informed decision. The latest research estimates only about 5% of autistic adults live completely independently.
After lengthy discussions with Caroline we agreed the best solution would be to keep Ben in a school environment for at least several more years. We struggledwith whether we were just kicking the can down the road and then concluded that wasn’t relevant. The question then became whether to keep him at his old school or place him somewhere else. Before that decision could be made I had Caroline and Sarah to consider. Now with her law degree from Harvard Caroline has decided to take the California Bar. She also has responsibilities at the autism school that requires her to spend time in the Bay area, but her longtime boyfriend Reed is now practicing environmental law in LA and she wants to be close to him. They’re thinking Santa Monica.
Finally, decisions were made. First I wouldn’t sell our home. There really was no reason to sell it. After discussions with Ben’s teachers and therapists we realized UCLA has a wonderful autistic program that would fulfill Ben’s needs if I decided to move back to LA. Then Caroline and I had dinner with Sarah and her family to discuss our plans and how we could include her. Collectively we came up with a very creative solution. First, Sarah keeps her key to our Mountain View home and continues to maintain it. Secondly, Sarah will fly down to LA twice a month to help me. Basically, Sarah is now a fulltime employee and all her expenses will be covered. After resolving my three issues and with a great new opportunity my decision became easy.
I packed up and moved back to Southern California in February. Caroline helped me pick out a much bigger house than I need in Pacific Palisades on a bluff overlooking the ocean with a spectacular view of the Pacific. The best
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