This will be my entry into your March challenge Lew Corcoran. I have already participated in the other half of the challenge being monitored by your partner Patricia Feager. Thank you both for being so active here in the Rain.
I grew up with the idea that I would go to medical school and practice medicine. That idea lasted through three and one half years of college. I think, looking back, it was my father's dream, not mine. He passed away mid-way through my junior year. When it was time to apply medical school and my planning had to get serious I realized a medical career was not for me. Many more years of training was not my goal.
So here I am with one semester left before graduation without a future map. So, I choose to be a frontend and brake mechanic at the place I worked for two years in the summer during college. The owner was happy for himself having me but almost constantly would throw a barb that I did not have to have a college degree to be a mechanic. Not good. At that time someone suggested I go to work for Savings & Loan and become a loan officer. No map, no dirty hands, cuts or bruises. It was a detour but then again not since I had no plan.
Once established as a loan officer I was asked if I would be willing to go to law school and become the in-house attorney upon graduation and the retirement of the current attorney. Not in my plan but to law school I went.
During my second year in night school, a four year program that went all year long, the attorney was killed in an automobile accident. The S&L hired a new attorney about 3 years older than me. No future here and again no plan. That said, I left and went into real estate sales while I finished law school.
Before graduation, I interviewed with a real estate syndication corporation for an in-house position. They offered two positions, one in the law department and the other as director of sales. Here I am almost 28 years old with one position paying one-half of the other. Guess what, no plan or direction so sales it was.
They were building and selling 6-unit apartment buildings to small investors. What better guy to negotiate the contracts. I became the negotiator for the sale of all properties controlled by the corporation. All good things must end someday but who knew I did not have a plan.
So, the guy with sales experience, an attorney and negotiator I checked all the boxes to be an asset manager. It was a good gig until the Tax Reform Act of 1986. That ended that.
So, did residential real estate closings and placed commercial loans. I needed a plan and I needed a change. So we moved to Florida and I became a real estate broker. Some would say I should have sat down and made a map and there were times when I did not think they were wrong as my unchartered course was in question.
That said we stayed in Florida for 26 plus years, raised my son and enjoyed family life. My son graduated from college and moved to downtown Chicago. Soon we retired and moved back to Chicago to be close to my son.
That is it in a nutshell. We met in downtown Chicago, moved around and ended up back where we started. No map, no concrete ideas just quick choices that turned out OK.
So you can say I spent a lot of time in uncharted waters. Thanks for the chance to participate.
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