One of the life-defining compliments came to me in junior high school, when I participated in the weight-lifting club afterschool. At less than 100 lbs and less than 5 feet tall (I was a late bloomer,) I was one of the smallest kids there. But I what I lacked in physical stature, I made of for in determination. One day, I was trying to bench close to 100 lbs…
Remember when you were a child, and you believed you could fly if you just ran hard enough and leapt? I’m not proposing you do anything like that might possibly cause bodily harm, but I am asking you to consider what it was that allowed you to take that flying leap off that porch, or deck? Was it ignorance? Maybe just a little. Was it foolishness? Again, maybe a bit. But I submit to you that it was something else. Something that as you watched reality, grownups and negative people snuff out your dreams (some rightfully so), died within you. Something that seemed a lot more fun than the harsh “reality” of life.
Some of you already know from my bio that prior to my work as an IT Professional, which preceded my career as a writer, I was a professional musician. That’s right. I was a cellist who graduated from Juilliard with a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree, and a doctorate from Johns Hopkins University. I’ve performed on the stages of Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Cairo Royal Opera House, and concert halls in Israel, South Africa, Jordan and Israel