ICD President - Me As A Person

This one will be different… this entry is for me.

I’ve got two friends that write blogs.  One is recovering from an addiction and one is a business professional who has dedicated his life to daily acting in God’s way.  They are very different blogs to read, yet the two authors are very similar.  They are two men I respect very much who care enough and who are passionate enough to share themselves in cyberspace in the hopes that perhaps only one person will be touched by their writings.  Jon & Eric, you inspire me, so tonight I’m going to write one for me.

As the President of the Italian Club my passion is for our Club and for Italy and for all things related to the Italian culture and way of life.  And as a professional it is my responsibility to use this blog for purposes of the Italian Club Dallas.  But behind the title, there is a person, a human being, who also tries to live his life daily following God’s way and caring for all people equally.  In short, I have a passion for life and while everything surrounding the Italian Club and the Italian culture is dominant, it is only a part of me.  So allow me to one time share some of me.

I am a father of 5 wonderful children that I love dearly.  My oldest will turn 21 this year and she is completing her sophomore year at the University of Oklahoma.  My boys are 16 and 14 and they are both young men I respect and admire greatly and my two youngest are twin girls who will turn 3 later this year.  My first job in life is to try to be a role model to all of them.  I’m not always successful, but I do try to the best of my ability.

I am in a significant relationship with an incredible woman who has faced her own share of challenges in life.  She has fought through things in her life that most of us would never wish on anyone.  She inspires me with her strength to fight on each day and I love her dearly.

I am a trainer in a program called the Life Enrichment Boot Camp.  Monthly, this four-day seminar helps people shed their past anger, bitterness and resentment and find a better life and a better spiritual relationship.  Through this program I have been blessed to have been God’s instrument to touch others and I have been touched myself by many of my trainees, my fellow trainers and especially by the person that trained me.  This is my purpose.

I am a traveler... I love to explore the world and I love to experience new places and new cultures and new people.  I have made friends around the world and to me there are no strangers, only people with different backgrounds and experiences and languages, each of whom can teach me something new.

I am an Executive Producer of large, live events and some of my work has been viewed around the world and chances are pretty high you have seen some of it but that’s not really important, it is only my profession.

So what is important to me is how you look at life, which is why my strongest personal passion is for the Italian Club Dallas as well as for my children and friends.  Italians, by nature, know a life a little different than most of us in the United States do.  Italians take time to appreciate and celebrate traditions and family and the simple pleasures of life.  They take time to make friends, to get to know those friends, to share experiences with them and to feel blessed for each day they are alive.  It is something we often lose here in Dallas and through my friendships I’ve made at the ICD, I feel it daily and at each and every event we host or that I attend.

I certainly don’t want to sound preachy, that’s simply not me.  But I wanted to take just one entry in my blog and help you get to know me, the person and human being, so that if you do visit us at the club that you know you’ll be welcomed by me and by people like me with open arms and you will be in the company of a group of people who, using Italy as their common ground, share a passion for life.

I hope you have a good May 1!