It was late summer 1980 in East Weymouth, Massachusetts. I was four years old, and my brother, Mike, was two. We lived at 37 Lorraine Street, our little ranch home in a small, family neighborhood where kids played freely, and there were no fences dividing the yards just the forest behind our home. Our backyard … Read more
The sun was just starting to rise over Ahwatukee, casting that perfect golden glow across the desert. It was early June, one of those rare mornings in Phoenix when you could actually enjoy being outside without feeling like you’d stepped into an oven set to broil. My twin Havanese dogs, Barry and Jasper, were already … Read more
The Sedona Room is my writing oasis. An artist hand painted a sunrise over Cathedral Rock across the walls and ceiling, wrapping the room in warm desert hues, reds and oranges and blues stretching overhead while I sit with my feet kicked up on the couch, air conditioning humming, trying to make sense of fifteen … Read more
The photo is Anthony and I aboard the USS Cole circa 1996. The USS Cole cut through the churning Atlantic, slicing past the Frying Pan Shoals buoy near Cape Fear, North Carolina. The mission was clear but shrouded in uncertainty, missing weekend boaters, lost somewhere in the chaos of Hurricane Bertha. The crew didn’t know … Read more
It was late September, 1999, and the Phoenix heat pressed against my skin as I slid into my Jeep Cherokee, which had recently lost its AC. Every commute to downtown felt like a slow roast. As I wiped sweat from my brow, I found myself wondering, for the hundredth time, if I made the right … Read more
It was February 1999, and I had just returned to Hingham, Massachusetts, from Phoenix, where my uncle Matt, my namesake, had gotten married. The sun-drenched desert felt like another world. While I had spent the past few days basking in 80 degree temperatures, Massachusetts had other plans. A late-season snowstorm loomed, and I was back … Read more
I woke up to another rejection email today. It was polite, almost too polite: Thank you for responding to us. We appreciate your platform and mission. However, after delving a bit more into the market, we could see this project isn’t quite a fit for us. We decline with the greatest respect and deepest regret. … Read more
It was July 15, 1982, my sixth birthday. The year before had been busy for our family. My dad had just finished building our new house in Hingham, and my sister had been born on my dad’s own birthday. Life had shifted in more ways than a five-year-old could track. But that summer, my mom … Read more
On a flight home from Boston, I found myself watching Bill & Ted Face the Music. It was Thanksgiving, and Jocelyn and I had just spent the holiday with my family, catching up with old friends and reminiscing about the past. As I settled into my seat and let the movie play, something about Bill … Read more
The conference room buzzed with tension. We were three days into a company summit in Sacramento, five round tables filled with team members hunched over laptops and printed documentation, hashing out our customer onboarding process. Papers rustled, pens tapped against notepads, and someone let out an audible sigh of frustration. What was supposed to be … Read more