Making the decision to talk to strangers around my neighborhood was intimidating at first, but after meeting so many diverse and beautiful people I fell in love. I never knew how many different cultures and lives were around me. I learned so much about the people around me and was surprised by the immense kindness I was met with. Some people didn't want their picture taken but I thought I should include their stories anyways.
"What's the most interesting thing that's happened to you?" "Falling down a cliff at the spartan race. I missed a step and slipped right down." "I'm afraid of butterflies. They look really creepy up close."
"I live a pretty simple life but I have traveled [to] 35 countries. So I'd call that the most interesting thing. Mostly all of Europe and because I was raised in India I've done India and Nepal, Canada, America. I'm hitting Asia next and Thailand, Japan, and Korea hopefully by the end of this year. I want to see 50 countries before I'm 50."
"I met my wife in Baghdad during the war. We met right after we took the green zone in 2003. My unit was a civil affairs unit. What we do once we go into a city is we set up the government basically. We were hiring translators so that we could interview thousands of people to try to [figure out] who's a doctor, who's an engineer, you know, who can do anything so we can get the city back [together]. I needed an interpreter that day and most of them were being used. I saw her across the room and I went and got her and said 'do you mind translating for me?' I thought she was a translator, but she hadn't even been hired yet. So she translated all day and 10 hours later I found out that she wasn't a translator, she hadn't been hired yet. So I tried to pay her and she got really upset with me because she said 'no, I'm doing this for my country, I'm not doing it for you guys.' That showed me there that she was a very honest person. Hey honestly especially in that environment, I was like, wow, I couldn't believe it. She eventually got hired and 6 months later we fell in love and ended up deciding to get married. After I deployed back to the States in March of 2004, I flew back over in July and we got married in Amman, Jordan. [We] filed her visa at the embassy there in Amman and then two months later, I went back and picked her up and we came back to the States. So here I was, I found somebody in the middle of a war that is very special to me and now we've got two little kids."
"What's the most interesting thing that's happened to you?" His daughter whispered: "Daddy loves hugs. You love hugs." As she wrapped her arms around his waist. "My dad and I, we used to do soybeans, so somewhat of a farmer, if you will. My dad has soybean fields so we just work in the fields and that's something that a lot of people don't know about me."
"What's the most interesting thing that's happened to you?" "Having kids. They always amaze me... Their questions and their curiosity."
"I rappelled off a mountain one time when I was in college. Going down the side of the mountain was actually so awesome. It wasn't scary at all but the scariest part was right when you're on the ledge, you have the rope on you and your feet are just right there on the edge and it's so scary. Once you get your footing after that first jump, I could've jumped around all day long. I wasn't scared at all after that. It was just that initial step off the side." (No picture)
"What's the most interesting thing that's happened to you?" "Being in the military. [With] discipline and being able to relate to people." (No picture)
"I had double hip surgery done at only 25 years old. And getting your legs cut off and put back on with metal rods is something different. Not something that happens every day."
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“What has been your greatest accomplishment?”
"I would say my son. Having him and raising an African American man by a single woman it's really hard- or it has been hard. He's 40 now. So I just think that was something I had to work really hard at. And that was one of my greatest accomplishments. Because he's a very very strong father and husband right now." "What is the most interesting thing about you?" "Just buying a home. All my life I've always rented so to be able to say that I finally accomplished owning something." "I was 40 before I took my first air flight. I took a job at the age of 40 where it required you to travel 100% of the time and I had never flown before. Money was one of the things but just the whole experience of being able to travel all over the world because that's what I got to do."
Even though I was a little uncomfortable at first with doing this, I think it was a great experience. I was surprised by how much I could find out about people with just a knock on the door. Thanks for reading and you can check out more of my articles on my home page.