Many of my earliest memories are from around four to five years old. These years stick in the corners of my mind. In specific, this is a period when I recall spending the most time with my mother. As the youngest in my family, my siblings were either grown and out of the house or…
Being a middle class child of the 70’s and 80’s, flying was not something we did. Being part of a big a family with parents that did not do debt meant we kept vacations to a minimum. The first time I flew was to basic training for the U.S. Air Force at 18 years old….
It’s strange to think that we spent the majority of our lives four hours from each other (me in Pittsburgh, Tracy in Maryland), and yet we didn’t meet each other until we were thousands of miles from our homes. In May 1999, we were both spending our final day of traveling through Europe in the Cinque…
One of the earliest teaching moments we all share is learning from our circumstances. Did your parents encourage you to learn from life’s good and bad deals? I bet they did. By no means have I perfected the art of life’s takeaways. But, in the midst of the pandemic, a few lessons have bubbled to…
My car fascination began in the spring of 1982 at the wide-eyed age of 12. It all started with a trip to the American institution of 7-Eleven. I grew up in a house that sat one lot removed from a cul-de-sac (the turnaround). The turnaround was the neighborhood play area. My street had little traffic…
The first few months of 1988 were rough. For the most part, my hair had grown back after the boot camp buzz cut from the previous September. It had been a whirlwind from Air Force basic training to tech school to being stationed in Miami, Florida. For an 18-year old kid that had barely left…
Fifty! How the hell did I get here this fast? I guess I’m not alone. Generation X as a whole is getting old and registering for AARP cards. Well, not registering but are of age to register for their old age discount cards. To be sure I am in no hurry to be a card-carrying…
My story begins in the mid-80’s hanging out in the east suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Even though I was a bus rider in middle school, I chose to make the 1.5 mile walk to and from school. On my way home from school, I stopped to hang out with the cheerleaders and play video games. I was forgiven for coming home late a few times. A few reprimands later, I invested in a watch.
We are all from somewhere. Some of us are proud of where we are from and others are meh about their hometown. In my experience, Pittsburghers tend to be proud of their roots. I was born and raised in Pittsburgh and graduated from The University of Pittsburgh. Since leaving da ‘Burgh, I’ve traveled the world…
I am a winter enthusiast. There, I said it. I still wake up excited to see snow. There is a good chance that I am more excited for a snow day than my three school-age kids. As a kid, I spent most winters outside soaking wet and sled riding. At 14, I learned to alpine ski…