Where did this life thing start for me?
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I was born in a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. My lifelong passion for reading started — and I advise against this—by devouring Bram Stoker’s Dracula as a 3rd grader.
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Doing so ignited two things:  
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1 - a permanent love of books and...

2 - the habit of wiping garlic on
my bedroom window each night.
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My first little league sport was baseball which I loved, and still do.  When pitchers started throwing curveballs, reality set in, and my pride nudged me to try something else.
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I moved on to wrestling and football and that combo paid my way through college.
 
After a remarkably mediocre collegiate career, in which my knee surgeries outnumbered my total of tackles, I graduated with a Bachelor's degree.
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I then reveled in a career as a history teacher and high school head coach.
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I worked with many amazing students and my experience in education was really fantastic.
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Along the way, I finished my Master's degree, attained a certification from the Institute of Children's Literature, ran a dozen marathons (maybe 13), coached state champions, was humbled by a leadership award, and began struggling with a formidable addiction to pizza.
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Yet, the sand pours through everyone's hourglass without pause.
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Each day, we are the oldest we have ever been and the youngest we'll ever be. I did not want to assume I had a certain amount of time guaranteed to me so I left that career early for other ambitions. 
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I seized this window of life to begin a speaking career and wrote six books in a year.
 
I felt completely at home when I was on stage and loved taking an audience on journeys but I now prefer to do so by writing.

Moving forward, writing and photography are my narrow focus with the zoomed-out priority of enjoying life and lifting other people up however I can while helping animals in need wherever I go.
 

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