The red desert sand crumbled under my yellow Labrador’s enormous paws as I rode on his back down the many dog trails to the nearest neighbor’s house nearly a quarter mile from home. At only three years old, I would venture on these journeys with my only sibling; “Shiner”. In the quiet and sparsely populated Spanish towns of the New Mexico desert, one had to be quite creative and adventurous to keep entertained. This being especially true for an only child. It made me very independent, adventurous, spontaneous, and believe it or not extremely social. My need to have social interactions with others developed a very keen understanding of how to make friends.
Most of the people in town were my parents age or older, and although there were some children my age, most of my interactions until about age five were with adults. My parents often like to tell stories of deep intellectual conversations with friends when I would be listening and jump in to share some very profound idea or comment that a “typical” four year old had no business sharing. Often the conversation would come to a grinding halt, as those involved would stop to comment or reflect on how intrinsically odd it truly was. I often think that my development of vocabulary was as much from talking with adults as it is from reading.
As living in New Mexico had made me adventurous and independent, living in Florida truly gave me my love of water and the ocean; a true “water baby” as they say. My extreme and avid love for SCUBA diving, although not experienced in Florida, I believe can be traced back these early years and the endless days discovering sea shells, playing frisbee against the ocean breeze, and body surfing the waves of Florida’s west coast. After those years in Florida, we came to Colorado as my Mother and her entire family are from the Arvada area.
My parents separated in first grade, my father returning to Florida. Thus, several times per year, and always every summer, I would travel by air as an “unaccompanied minor”. I travelled allot with my family, but I believe my love of travel and jumping on an airplane can be traced back those early days moving back and forth between Mom and Dad. There is nothing greater than deciding with a friend on the spur of the moment to hit the road or the skies and go on an adventure, much like jumping on Shiner’s back to head down a dusty trail.
My entrepreneurial spirit was greatly shaped by my Mother and her tireless efforts to succeed with her small businesses as I was growing up. Very early I learned the value of persistence, determination, creativity, passion, and dedication. Immediately I began to develop my own “businesses”; snow shoveling routes, yard maintenance, and on and on. Eventually I began to develop actual business plans and business development strategies. At age eleven I was featured in the New York Times for loans I took to implement a dial up Internet service from my bedroom (just like AOL). I had 14 phone lines running into my room, with a direct connection to the Internet, charging a monthly fee from my users. I am so thankful to have had the privilege of watching a single mother persist until her entrepreneurial dreams came true.
