Wall of Thanks

 

I've been thinking about this for a really long time. We're the sum of our experiences, and while I can take credit for some of my good fortune, I stand on the shoulders of the many, many people in my life that helped me learn something whether it was terribly negative, wonderfully positive, or something right in the middle. For many of the people in my life, I could write page after page, but instead I'm going to give each person one sentence, and not the easy, obvious sentence, but one that's particularly dear to me. Without further ado, my Wall of Thanks:

• John Jamison - Teaching me how to shave correctly.
• Michael Gura - Smoked Salmon is good and yes, it's not all that hard to start your own company!
• Keith Goodwin - Made me realize many of us join the military for the same reason; to catapult ourselves out of a dead-end.
• Sabrina Menear - She was only one year older than me, but she seemed so knowledgeable and worldly. Also introduced me to the Scorpions 'Love at First Sting' with her walkman that had two headphone jacks.
• My Mom, for taking us to Moraine Valley Community College and leaving me in the library for hours at a time. The serendipitous discoveries in that library (and every library since) created and fed my insatiable desire to learn and understand the world around us.
• Tony Mehock, for teaching me car repair skills I've used my whole life and learning how to be a good employee, even though I wasn't all that great for him.
• Mike Butville - Passing along some information for a job he interviewed for and wasn't interested in that turned into a career and life-changing event for me.
  
• Mrs. Frogue - Your bright orange tube tops and amazing raspberries that grew over our fence in the 80s are unforgettable.
• Mark and Terri Seabolt - Your apartment was a home away from home for a bunch of wayward sailors. Truly two of the nicest, most fun people I've ever known.
• John Skibinski - A good roadtrip can be taken right up to the end of life, and if you take care of your skin you'll look young into your 80s. Did he have work done?
• The RVing couple I met in the diner in Gallup, NM when my car broke down - you were 55, recently retired, and traveling the country. I was 24 with a whole working life ahead of me, but it made me realize retirement is a real thing that requires planning and you don't need to have one foot in the grave if you take the right steps. 
• Greg Herbert for telling me a Daytona 765 is basically the perfect track bike. Tried it, bought it, and now I have a $13k/year track habit.
  
• Craig Galhouse for the privilege of baling hay. Going to Wisconsin for a few weeks every year was simply wonderful and definitely taught me how to work.
  
• Frank Muzik for taking us on the Ashland Ave. bus into the city, introducing me to talk radio, and sharing (but at the same time clearly holding back) tales from WWII.
• Lisa Perry - Meeting you at LAX set the tone for my time in Guam. It was literally the first day of the rest of my life.
• Joe Forbes - Speaking of Guam, it was his tales of volleyball, hard work, and travel to Asia on the Holland that made me think this would be a great life choice.
• Stan Olson - Reading prospectuses and talking about investment in the Persian Gulf didn't take at the time, but the second I got a job out of college, he's been the angel on my shoulder.
• Dawn Sears - The beef jerky bet completely changed my life. Many marathons, centuries, and trail adventures later, it all started with the bet.
• John Stanton for telling me about how his sister ran five miles a day. Five miles was daunting and hard as hell (in 1994). It was the start of running.
• Rich Drehs - Sharing liver sausage sandwiches and making fun of me because I couldn't spell Singapore. (Sig-na-pore). 
• Amy, Dan, Lloyd, and Bob for helping me transition into a Northern Virginian.
• John Esposito - He and his great Guzzi crew elevated motorcycling to a near-religion in my life. I'll be a student of motorcycling until I die and John was my first teacher.
• Blaze Stancampiano - you were wise beyond your years when we were 20 and you only accelerated from there. So generous with your intellect and insights, you've given life-changing nudges that completely changed the course of my life for the better. Best upstairs neighbor EVER.
• Chris Gilbert (while working up in Boston) - "Yeah, running on a trail is pretty cool. Did you know this is an actual thing? It's called... trail running."
• Chris Parrett for introducing me to the Martini while we were in Japan, opening my ears to a whole other universe of music, and teaching our peer group to take our debauchery and class it up a bit.
• My Dad for taking me to work with him - so grateful to watch the world go by from the passenger window of a Mack R600 tractor. From my earliest memories, every road trip I've done with my Dad was an important moment in my life.
• Jason Hill - I could have parked anywhere at Summit Point that day, but happened to park next to you. Our conversations before, during, and after every track day make me a better rider and a better person.
• Karen Consiglio - you're a class act, an unflappable leader, and adroitly handle some of the thorniest issues I've ever seen in construction. After every encounter with you, it raises my personal bar on how I should act as a professional. We're peers, but you solidly lead by example.