A New Direction

I'm beginning this blog with a number of changes in my life: namely that I've been accepted into the Peace Corps and invited to serve in Moldova. For those of you who don't know me, this will seem like I'm jumping off a cliff and being extremely radical. For those who do know me, I think you'll see that I am heading down a path that I've been creating for quite some time.

A little background:

I am the second child of five born in Idaho to two terrific parents. Dad was career Navy, so I traveled most of my childhood and lived in such exotic locales as Japan, Brooklyn, San Diego and Nortonville, KS. For the last twenty-something years I've lived in Washington State.

While living in Japan, I was young and hopelessly naive, so the world was filled with magic. I remember stepping around the outside of our house to find two teenagers writing graffitti on the side of the building. Being caught in the act, they looked really guilty and I asked them what they were doing. They sized me up, decided I wasn't a threat, and said, "We're writing with our Magic Markers." It is quintessentially me that I didn't ask "Why are you doing that," but instead asked, "Why is it magic?" Their response has haunted me (in a good way) the rest of my life and created much of who I am today. They said, "Because we gathered up a little of everything in whole world, put it in a big pot and stirred it together. What came out was a Magic Marker." Ever since, I've been fascinated with the connectivity of actions, people, ideas and the world at large. The universe is a very large pot to stir.

Early on, I was encouraged (within reason) to stretch my imagination to what was possible. Mom (a gifted interior designer) was always stretching our imaginations, showing us creative ways of looking at the world, encouraging us to develop our artistic sides. The most important message we received was, "you can do anything you set your mind to do." Another of my favorite "Momisms" is, "'Can't' died in a poorhouse."

Fast-forwarding to the future, I've had a varied career path, that included teaching English while working on my Master's Degree at the University of Kansas, editing several publications for an Automotive Aftermarket Association, working in marketing for the now defunct GTE, co-owned two small businesses, and just left a ten-year stint in the pet industry. All these different careers left me with a taste to know how more things connect. They also, hopefully, gave me experiences that I can apply in all situations in the future.

So, I decided to pursue another life goal: The Peace Corps. Now, I'm going to be teaching English in Eastern Europe to High School Students in Moldova: something I never dreamed possible so many years ago.

What will follow in subsequent blogs will be my efforts to get ready, and my adventures, musings and photos of my service. Hopefully, you will enjoy some of the ride along the way.

Here we go...