Like many kids, I was afraid of the dark when I was young, even with a nightlight on. I soon figured out that I could distract myself from the fear by making up stories and that distraction allowed me to fall asleep faster. The more engaging the story, the quicker I fell asleep. Each night, I would pick up the story where I drifted off and the story would continue each night until I got bored with it or a new story popped into my head. While I’m no longer afraid of the dark, I still have stories popping into my head, but now I write them down.
When I got to the point that I needed a job as a teen, I started working at a children’s theme park in northern New Hampshire. The first couple of years there, I operated rides that included speeches that enhanced the experience. In order to engage with the group of riders better, I soon learned to “smooth” out and project my voice, adding inflection, emotion, and alter the cadence depending on the group. It was years later that it dawned on me that there were people that did this for a living.
Eventually I moved on and found my passion in the fire service, a co-career in the funeral service, and more importantly, found the love of my life and raised a family. I’m retired from the fire service, work occasionally in the funeral service, the kids are all grown and I’m currently living in southern NH. Now, I’m moving on to my “original” passions of story telling and voice over, completing the circle that started more years ago than I’d like to admit to.
I don’t think anyone can really give a comprehensive description about themselves in a couple of paragraphs in the “About Me” section of a website. It doesn’t really tell the whole story of a person, just some of the highlights of a life, and even those highlights are perhaps defined by someone else more than we would care to admit. In any case, I’m still filling in the “About Me” section of my life and I sincerely hope that you are too.