Welcome to the Jungle!

Where or where shall we begin?

I suppose we could start with the basics. I'm the father of three fantastic grown children, the brother of two sisters, and the husband of a book lover who almost never leaves a bookstore empty-handed. (This is mostly a concern because her job is IN a bookstore...)

Here's something you might not have heard before: I started a company on a bet.

My friend had challenged me to start a company and bet me that it would be successful. I, however, bet that it would fail. I've since learned that betting against oneself is a Super Bad Idea. So glad I lost that bet.

Here's another unusual factoid: I accidentally wrote a book back in the mid 1990's. How can one "accidentally" write a book, you might ask? Well, there's a longer story there that I may tell sometime. The short version is that I never intended to write a book, and yet such a book now exists.

Before losing my hearing, I was a musician. I also used to be a private pilot before losing sight in my right eye. I used to be Christian, but no more. Wasted many years wondering every day if that would be the day I would take my own life. For all of the so-called benefits of faith, shame and self-loathing certainly accomplished nothing positive.

After 33 years of marriage and a very painful divorce, I finally found the love of my life, someone who accepts the good, the bad, and the super ugly of being married to this. In return, I get access to more books than I could possibly read. #winning

I used to believe the church story that gay people were bad. I used to believe the racist story that white people were better than others. Terrible, yes, but that was the environment in which we were raised. Now I realize that this was all fiction. Now I am on a crusade to promote the belief that all humans are equal; no exceptions. Pursuit of money is worthless; people are the only asset that truly matters.

I believe humanity is not inherently evil, but that evil and good rest within each of us and in our choices.

Despite setbacks and challenges and watching my body erode a little more every day, I try to stay positive and focused on making each day a little better for someone. To paraphrase Bon Jovi "I've seen a million problems, and ROCKED 'em all".

Finally, I use the word "I" too often.

Who are you?