Who Are You?

 

Let me begin again – Li-Young Lee, “Visions and Interpretations”

I was born in 1961, the son of a miner and a miner’s daughter, raised by my mother along with two sisters,  in a small town in Arizona.  I muddled my way through school without incident or accolade and worked in construction after high school

I turned from a skinny, pale, shy kid into an adult.  I became self-confident to a degree.  And I slowly realized that I was homosexual. 

Because of this, I decided that another career than construction would be more appropriate.  I enrolled at the University and eventually graduated with a degree in History.  I fell in with an artistic crowd.  I relished the academic and intellectual life.  I slowly grew to accept my sexuality and wondered about a world outside of construction. 

But college life is no substitute for a career and construction offered, quick money and few responsibilities.  So I went back to working in the trades.  Eventually, I settled into construction management, first for an electrical contractor and then for a general contractor where I specialized in data center construction.

I retired early and live in Phoenix and have a partner and work part-time at my own electrical contracting firm, writing, painting and learning the guitar.