Defining Elements

Defining elements can be wonderfully beautiful and terrifying learning experiences.  Here's my short list of events and/or activities that have helped shape me to be the person I am today.

Growing up on a farm, surrounded by nature has fostered by creativity and inner peace.

Playing basketball all through school taught me leadership, motivation, goal setting skills besides the satisfaction of being physically fit.

Undergraduate school at Hiram College  was truly a personal renaissance.  I learned so much about the depth of my passions, desires, and goals in life.  Countless images, sounds, smells and tastes are eternally etched in my soul from this wonderful place on a hill in the middle of nature in Ohio.

Owning a Scottish Pub (actually a Medieval Scottish Pub) was a hectic, sleepless, nerve-racking but enjoyable learning experience. I can't believe I never gained any weight during those years!  

Towards the end of the end of the pub days, I met the love of my life and she brought me to our current abode, in South Carolina, with winters far away from snow, cold and more cold!

Teaching, in one shape, form or another, has been a part of my life for a long time.  From teaching drum lessons, to employees at the pub, and then English, journalism and drama, I love seeing the reaction of people when the light bulb goes on for the first time and a new idea or skill has been realized.

My most recent, life changing and important defining element has been the joy of being a parent!  Each day brings new experiences, words, expressions, and surprises.