I met the love of my life in 1990 but I wasn’t making enough money at my job. So I made a tough choice.
I decided to go back to the trucking industry even though I knew it was tough. Even though I knew I didn’t really want to.
Turns out I hated that job, just like I thought I would.
After one year, I was sitting at my desk one Monday afternoon, 4 pm, thoroughly depressed. I was wondering what I could do with my life that would actually make me happy.
That’s when I thought about the team trainer for my baseball team. She’d been a massage therapist who helped the players stretch out before and after a game, and she had a background in anatomy / physiology. I remembered she trained at an institution in nearby Scottsdale so I picked up the phone and gave them a call.
The guy who answered the phone apologized. He said the school was starting a new round of classes that night. He invited me to come audit a class. I thanked him for the invitation and said I’d probably stop by. But the moment I put down the phone, I got hit by an epiphany.
I picked the phone up and I called the guy back. I said, “Sign me up for tonight.”
He thought I meant I was coming by to audit the class. “Yeah yeah,” he said. “I know, I’ll see you tonight. Come on by.”
I said, “No. I mean, sign me up for tonight. I want to start classes tonight. As a student.”
The only thing that ever happened to me like that before was the moment I met my wife and I knew I would marry her. A very strong feeling, which I gave myself over to completely.
I drove home that night after work and got there around 5:30. Imagine me standing there telling my wife, “I’m going back to school.”
She said, “What? What kind of a school? Which college?”
I said, “Yeah, no. It’s a … like a therapy school.”
“Are you crazy?” she said. “When?”
“Uhm? Couple of minutes? I gotta go. See you later tonight.”
That was the beginning of a grand adventure that, so far, has lasted me 30 great years.