About me!

I’m 47.  Freshly emptynested, I’m doing what many people dream of doing:  I’ve sold my house, my son is safelyensconced in college, and I’m hitting the road. I look younger than I am.  On myrecent birthday, a girl in a bar told me that she thought I was only a fewyears older than she was.  She was29.  No matter that the girl was lit andthe bar very dark.  I took my firstcomplement of my 47^th year and smiled.  I’ll take it. At my age, I take what I can get.

First stop: Peru.  As it turns out, my friendBarbara will be joining me for that.  Wewill spend a month and a few days there. I’m looking forward to a physically demanding trip punctuated byretreat-like downtime.  Adventure girlmeets New Age.  And, as it turns out,Peru is one of the world’s hotspots right now for culinary exploration.  Barbara and I are both major foodies.  So, with these ideas in mind, we havedesigned an adventure that will include Spanish classes, cooking classes,trekking to Machu Picchu, trekking in the Sacred Valley, meditation, yoga, andbeach time.  I’ve traveled enough to knowthat it can be grueling, stressful and disappointing.  My goal: to keep it all in perspective and soak it in.

I spent my career years up until now working in the field ofcommunity development.  I’ve done avariety pack of things—worked as a homeownership counselor, ran a couple ofnonprofit organizations, worked for a city sponsored program to promotedowntown housing, made debt and equity investments for Fannie Mae’s AmericanCommunities Fund, and finally, spent the last 10 years publishing a magazineabout Baltimore, called Urbanite. 

I’m a passionate person. And up until now, my passion has been largely about Baltimore andcities—how they tick, why some work and some do not, how to inspire innovation,cultivate leadership and tackle intransigent problems.  Baltimore has been an incredibly interestingsubject—its size (not too big and not too small), its economically and raciallypolarized population, its history, its location—balanced between the South andthe North during the Civil War, its proud blue collar background that is slowlyyielding to a future of technology and healthcare.  I once read that interesting people areattracted to problems.  I have found thatto be true in Baltimore and I am grateful for the 25 years that I spent therebumping into other passionate people committed to making the world a betterplace.

Since the magazine did not work out, I find myself lurchinginto a new phase of my life.  The threadthat bound my former career choices together and guided me from job to job hasevolved into a glittering, fragile strand—the kind that you see on a breezysummer day carrying small spiders to new territories.  Like the spiders, I feel I’m being carried ona journey with no idea where I will land.

I do know this much. After Peru, I will head south to the warm climes of Florida to begin the‘work while traveling’ portion of adventure on a goat farm.  I ran into a woman the other day that told methat when goats show up in your life, you are either taking life too seriouslyor not taking life seriously enough. Both are true for me.  So, itseems fitting that my farming sojourn begins with goats.