Sean Davis for Astoria

This past week reminded me that serving a community comes in all shapes and sizes.

Sometimes it means sitting in a meeting and planning for the future, it means fixing something that’s broken, or helping get someone a job. Sometimes it means listening to someone you disagree with. And sometimes it means decorating a little red Jeep and driving through the Regatta Parade with a bunch of combat veterans.

I got a little bit of all of that this week.

Last Wednesday started at the Astoria Library, where I met with representatives from Astoria Parks and Recreation to begin planning a celebration of the 100th anniversary of Astoria’s Doughboy Monument. I’m involved representing both Rogue Cell and American Legion Post 12. The Doughboy, officially known as the Astoria Victory Monument, deserves to be celebrated.

It was dedicated on July 21, 1926, to honor the men and women of Clatsop County who served during World War I. The bronze soldier, sculpted by John Paulding, stands on a base designed by Astoria architect Charles T. Diamond. Around 5,000 people attended the original dedication.

What I especially love about its history is how Astoria built it.

The city agreed to pay for the monument’s base, while the American Legion took responsibility for raising the money for the bronze Doughboy. The statue cost about $1,400, and almost all of that money was raised in a single afternoon. Other historical accounts describe the effort as being supported by the American Legion and Uniontown businesses and residents. That really says something about this community.

A hundred years ago, people here decided that remembering those who served mattered enough to pass the hat, give what they could, and build something that would still be standing a century later. On Veterans Day, November 11, we get the opportunity to gather around it again.

That evening I headed over to the Astoria Fire Department for the community meet-and-greet with the six finalists being considered for Astoria’s next fire chief.

I enjoyed getting the chance to listen to them, ask questions and hear how each candidate approached leadership. The position involves personnel, training, budgeting, strategic planning, fire prevention and emergency response.

Thursday was considerably less glamorous.

I spent part of the day helping with maintenance at American Legion Post 12. There are probably fewer campaign photographs of people fixing things around an old Legion hall, but that’s usually what community service actually looks like.

That evening Kelly and I headed to the Liberty Theatre for the Yacht Rock event in the McTavish Room.

We danced all night to smooth classic hits, and it was pretty wonderful seeing everybody cut loose as Regatta festivities got underway. There are times when Astoria feels like a town and times when it feels like one enormous extended family. Regatta week is definitely the latter.

Friday morning I had hoped to make the Astoria Downtown Historic District Association meeting, but family came first. I needed to get my daughter Jackie to the final day of her paid summer internship at the Wildlife Center of the North Coast and then headed back to Post 12 to deal with a few more maintenance issues.

That afternoon I met with Matt Zedwick and Floyd Holcom. I had wanted to talk with Floyd about getting the Veterans of Foreign Wars involved with the Doughboy anniversary, but naturally, politics came up too.

Floyd had previously told me he planned to support me for mayor. Since Laura Parker entered the race, however, he told me he needed to support her because she’s family. I understood completely.

More importantly, I respected him for telling me directly.

Politics shouldn’t mean we suddenly stop working together because someone supports another candidate. Floyd and I may vote differently in November, but that has absolutely nothing to do with whether we can stand together in November to honor veterans.

In fact, I think that is part of the job I’m asking Astorians to give me. A mayor has to work with people who disagree with him.

There are going to be four city councilors with their own ideas, priorities and personalities. There will be county officials, Port commissioners, business owners, neighborhood leaders, state legislators and thousands of residents who aren’t always going to agree.

Good. They shouldn’t.

Leadership isn’t getting everybody in a room who already agrees with you. Leadership is getting people who don’t agree on everything to find the things they can agree on and get to work.

Saturday morning gave me one of those experiences I don’t think I’ll ever forget. It was a beautiful morning for the Astoria Regatta Grand Land Parade. Matt Zedwick, Josh Davis, former Clatsop County Veterans Service Officer and combat veteran, Marine veteran Mike Blackwell and I decorated my little red Jeep Wrangler and drove it through the parade.

The Astoria Regatta tradition dates back to 1894 and remains one of the defining celebrations of our maritime community. Driving through it with my battle buddies was something else. People were waving. Kids were smiling. The streets were packed. And somewhere during all of it I had one of those moments where I thought, How lucky am I that I get to do this?

I came home from Iraq more than twenty years ago. Now I was driving through the streets of Astoria in a red Jeep with other veterans beside me, taking part in a tradition generations of Astorians have celebrated.

I truly am one of the luckiest men on this planet.

That night Kelly and I went to Obelisk Brewing to celebrate Heidi Brown’s homecoming after an extraordinary adventure: she sailed around the world. It took her a year, one leg at a time, but she sailed her boat around the planet.

I keep meeting people like Heidi here.

Astoria has incredibly strong female role models. It has artists, veterans, fishermen, entrepreneurs, musicians, craftspeople, teachers, dreamers and people willing to attempt things most people in this world would consider completely unreasonable until somebody actually does them.

There is a toughness and creative streak in this town that I absolutely love. I really do believe this is the best place on Earth to live.

Then I did something almost radical.

I took two days off.

Kelly had just completed three years of work earning her Master’s Degree in Social Work, and Jackie had finished her summer internship. They both deserved to celebrate, and frankly, I needed it too. I’ve been going nearly nonstop since February.

Sunday we went to see Modest Mouse. Monday night we saw Tomahawk and the Melvins. Two nights of loud music, family, and absolutely no campaign schedule, reminded me that there is, apparently, a world outside this campaign.

Who knew?

By Tuesday morning, though, we were back. We got up early and headed home. I showed up for Veterans Coffee carrying a dozen fresh Voodoo Doughnuts, which remains one of the more effective veteran outreach strategies ever developed, but something important happened that morning too.

We were able to connect Dan, a homeless veteran currently staying at Helping Hands, with a veteran advocate from the Oregon Employment Department. Dan has been working hard to put his life back together. That’s what programs like Veterans Coffee are really about.

Coffee and doughnuts are nice. The conversation matters. The joking matters. Being around other veterans matters, but when somebody walks through that door needing help, we also need to be able to connect them with the people and resources that can help them move forward. Dan is doing the hard part. We’re just here to help him keep moving.

Tuesday night Kelly and I headed to the Astoria Armory for Rachel Armitage’s Clatsop County campaign launch. Rachel is running for Oregon Senate District 16. Kelly and I helped decorate before the event, and I spent a good part of the evening doing one of my favorite things: talking with people about Astoria, politics, and ideas for making our community stronger.

Rachel gave a good speech, and afterward Kelly and I gathered up the leftover food and brought it over to the Columbia Memorial Hospital Emergency Department for the nurses, doctors and staff working that night. Waste not, want not, and if anybody deserves a late-night plate of campaign food, it’s an emergency-room crew.

Which brings me to today.

I’m meeting with Brian, the owner of Rusty Cup, to talk about what small businesses downtown need from their city and what City Hall could do better.

Then I’m meeting with my campaign manager to plan the next stretch of this race. And tonight I’m having dinner with two of my former team leaders from the time I served as a squad leader in Iraq.

I know we still have a long way to go before November, but I’m doing the work.

I’m meeting people. I’m listening. I’m showing up. I’m learning how this city works, where it struggles and where we have opportunities to do better.

Astoria doesn’t need one person with all the answers. It needs leadership that can bring good people together, listen to them, and then get to work.

That’s the kind of mayor I intend to be.