About Me

I’ve been working since I was 16 — regular jobs, part-time jobs, whatever it took, and eventually put myself through college. I started in psychology before finding my real passion in cultural anthropology, then left school to do what the subject was actually about: I traveled through Central America, meeting people and immersing myself in ways of life very different from my own.

That curiosity shaped everything that followed. I started my own business and ran it for 40 years, acquiring and merging others along the way, keeping what was useful and selling off the rest. I was always hands-on, knew every employee personally, and handled all my own hiring and firing. Over those years, business and wanderlust took me across the continental US, up into Canada, through Central America, out to the Caribbean, and all the way to Japan.

Through all of it, the scenery was never what stayed with me. It was always the people. Getting to know someone, understanding their culture and how they see the world, was the real reward every time.

Over my 75 years I’ve seen good times and hard ones, made money and lost it, built things and watched them fall apart. I’ve faced cancer without insurance and said goodbye to parents, brothers, friends, and loved ones lost to disease, accidents, and addiction. Life has a way of humbling you.

What I know for certain is that when things get hard, when you’re going through changes or just feeling a little alone, it helps to have someone to talk to. That’s what I miss most in retirement, and honestly, that’s what I’m here for.