Pat

About me:

PEOPLE WILL FORGET WHAT YOU DO. PEOPLE WILL FORGET WHAT YOU SAY. THEY WILL NEVER FORGET HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL! This could not be more appropriate than the way a small child made me feel the night she changed my life forever. While sitting with some children reading and singing one night, Patricia reached over and touched a bracelet on my wrist that my niece Scooter had made. Spinning it twice, she stopped and looked down at her hand. Her small fingers removed a beaded ring and placed it on my finger. I tried to stop her, but she only smiled and then took off her beaded necklace and placed it around my neck. Conveying that I could not accept these gifts, a young boy said that she wanted me to have them. This would not normally have been seen as a grand gesture, but Patricia is different. She owns two shirts and a torn dress and on this evening, she gave away half of her possessions just to watch me smile. Patricia is special, she is an orphan of Kenya. She and her sister Chamariach were left to the care of the world when their mother died of malaria. This is only one of the many stories that I now carry with me after returning from a relief trip to Africa. I went there leaving the snow behind to go to a 120 degree world that I had only read about in magazines. I came back with forty two orphans in my heart, hundreds of bush people in my aspirations to help and the need to tell anyone that would listen so that this country that I now love would not be forgotten. If you want to know who I am, I'm that guy that talks to the old lady in line at the store or the homeless guy on the street. I Smile at random people so that they will have a smile also. If we spend time together, there is a decent chance that sooner or later we will both end up laughing. And in between those moments, you can count on me being pretty much a bit of a smart ass. Give me a good cup of coffee in the morning with a great conversation. Give me my Tevas, shorts and my old cap in the afternoon and set me free. Buddy up to the fire after a day of surfing with some friends and I'll be doin fine. .. .. .. .. ..