3 Years Later: The Cannabis Love Story

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A Compassion patient dropped her iPad - little did we know that Genevieve would create a family:

Three years ago today I was on Amtrak headed to Santa Barbara. It wasn’t just another day in the world of compassion, that’s for sure. It meant a lot to take a detour on the trip planned up the central coast that day in order to gain more compassion oils to spread across the state to patients in need. When you’re already in the central valley of California, heading to the coast before going directly up north is no minor variation of plans – but my compassion patient who wasn’t even using her iPad before oils given to her 45 days earlier was now, once again, relying on that device to have a voice. As a compassion provider, giving away cannabis oils, how could I not pay attention to the needs of Genevieve? She had such a huge impact on me from the moment I met her, it was like this angelic child in need of help that for me was easy to give but for the world it eluded her. Many will shy away from kids with severe disabilities, or even be intimated by it. Genbug, from moment one, was so accepting of me that there was no way not to love this child with all of my heart. To this day her mom knows well and accepts with happiness, that I fell in love with her daughter first. I’ve worked with literally thousands of patients, many hands-on, but have never felt such an angelic presence before. Something spoke out to me inside telling me “this is where you belong – this child needs you.” I brushed that off literally the day I met her thinking ‘they all need help, Mike’. It’s so awesome to look back and read the story of Genevieve’s first dose of cannabis oil.

Genevieve in the weeks following starting oils in 2016, we had yet to go on our first date when this photo was taken.

Her mom, now my soon-to-be wife Anne Mari, decided the least she could do was show me the town. Because many of the compassion patients were hippies she thought I’d want to go to a party that was being held by some local friends with style. Instead, we spent a few hours taking in the sights of Santa Barbara before getting a text from my now daughter Fatima (Anne Mari’s biological oldest) telling us that Genevieve had got sick and she needed help. We rushed back to their home and cleaned up the mess. We went back out for maybe another 1.5 hours and got another text with a similar message. And that folks, was the first date that started the Cannabis Love Story that many know of today.

We did start talking by text a bit more seriously than compassion patient parent and provider by mid-September and the romance had begun but very in a very subtle manner. It wasn’t a surprise at all to be attracted to each other when we met on Sept. 25th, 2016, 3 years ago today, and wanted to go out together. But what was a surprise is that it wouldn’t be the type of date that many go on in this era. Both of us feel as if we escaped what often hinders relationships that move too fast. The cover photo for this story shows a relationship change – one in which we committed to each other without acts of intimacy at least in the physical sense. You don’t hear this very often and when you do generally the response is “Yeah Right”. But with our love it was so much deeper as we had so many things in common – but the biggest common denominator was and still is the intense love for Genevieve. To this day Anne Mari will still talk about that first date “Nobody will ever believe us!” she’ll say – as not many ‘dates’ include coming back and forth to the house to help out a disabled child who’s also feeling ill. I didn’t think it was any big deal to help clean up the mess and get Genbug comfortable so we could go spend another hour or two together. When you’ve spent much of your life surrounded by people who need compassion, it’s second nature.

After this visit that, little did we know, would eventually end up in our engagement down the line it was nearly another 30 days before we’d have time together – alone. In late October I came to Santa Barbara on a planned trip and not to see Genevieve, although that was in the plan, the focus was on Anne Mari – my new love. Of course many have reservations about relationships, especially when you’re not dating on the regular – or at all. But with Anne Mari, everything was so natural. After spending 2 days together in October it would be yet another month before we could be together again as the compassion program had me all over the map. This time it was for her birthday in late November 2016. I stayed at an Airbnb operated by a promoter for Cheech and Chong – which was really cool. The room had autographed posters and the home was really set – it felt like I was staying at such a custom place likely because I was! Anne Mari would have coffee with me every morning and I’d take a Uber over to her house to spend the day. I think those 3 days were the ones that bonded us more than anything else. Rather than dating over that period of time, instead, we spent the time at the house with the kids. Since I’m somewhat of a big kid myself – naturally both Genevieve’s younger sister and older sister became accepting – although Fatima was a much harder one to break the ice with! Eventually, or rather quickly, we became a functioning family after I spent the upcoming Christmas break in Santa Barbara with them. The memories of that visit are so special and so funny – we laugh so hard talking about that Christmas break!

Genevieve’s younger sister Sydney and older Sister Fatima taken in the past year – Fatima and her Fiance’ Michael gave us a gift with Leo, our grandson last year!

So what started out to be another compassion patient needing help has turned into a family – and today we celebrate the moment when we both said to each other that we want no other. The day we committed – not knowing that it truly would be one for life. There is no ‘better or worse’ in our relationship or ‘thick and through thin’ – because all that should go without saying although we’re looking forward to the day we can say that and truly be married. There are so many obstacles that make it difficult for couples like us to get legally married that are simply unfair. Why should anyone’s limited income become more limited because they’ve decided to unite? Often the need to become an integrative part of a new industry is necessary to fuel the needs of the family – but we were created by compassion. We live with an attitude of gratitude and every day, every breath, we are thankful for.

Today we celebrate our life together and how it all started. We celebrate love and all of the little victories along this journey. But, most of all, we both know how truly lucky we are to have found someone who understands us and can put up with our individual personalities! Now that’s not a simple thing for anyone to do – and generally takes a lot of ‘dating’ to find someone like that. I’ve never liked dating which is why I said “Yes” to the offer to go out and see the town and didn’t even try to attend a ‘Hippie Party’! Anne Mari was trying to make me happy in what element she thought I could enjoy as a ‘thank you for bringing the iPad which turned out to be funded for one as the college kid I was going to buy it from here flaked on us! So what started out to be a journey to make sure a compassionate patient could continue to utilize ‘her words’ has turned into what we have today – a beautiful family and a life that both of us are happy in along with our kids and grandson who I love to show off.

Thank you for reading and a huge message of gratitude to everyone who’s supported our journey and that of all who are compassion patients in the world of cannabis – we can truly make a difference with giving. When we help another out we help ourselves as well but I never thought that being part of something bigger than myself would create a family and joy that lasts a lifetime.