While I joined Toastmasters, specifically the PMIWDC#01 chapter, earlier in 2010 I only finally got around to giving my first speech on July 27th, 2010! The first speech for every Toastmaster is their Ice Breaker where the topic is yourself, the topic you know the most about! The objectives of speech number one are:
- To begin speaking before and audience
- To discovery speaking skills you already have and skills that need some attention.
Good evening Mr. Toastmaster, fellow Toastmasters and welcome guests.
When I first started to prepare for this speech I had no idea where to begin. Some would say at the beginning but I’m talking more about what information about myself to present. As someone who makes light of being able to talk about any topic ad naseum I found myself to be the greatest challenge. I didn’t see my background as exciting or having much of anything interesting to say. And with working in the defense industry, cautious about how much of my background and experiences I share. However, over time I realized there was a common thread throughout my life and found the best way to “break the ice” is to talk about Life’s Travels. Not necessarily where I’ve been to but one of the most interesting locations I’ve ever been, and a form of travel that is a passion of mine.
So I was born and raised in Philadelphia and knew when it was time to look for colleges that I wanted out of the city. I was accepted to the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida and have come to love the great State of Florida and all that it affords. After spending ten years in Tampa and having travelled around this great country to places like Colorado, Arizona and Texas, as well as some beautiful locations outside of the United States, including Qatar, I was afforded the opportunity to travel to one of the most remote locations on this planet. Not Antarctica, which is still on my list of places to go one day and not some barren island in the middle of nowhere. This location is only about 90 miles from Florida but remains to this day a distant, lonely, politically argued and one of the most unique places on Earth that few people have had a chance to see. The place I’m talking about is Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Obviously there are a number of political hot button issues that surround this island and we’ll ignore those for the time being. Guantanamo Bay though is an absolutely beautiful location that I wish each and everyone one of you could go and see one day. From the amazing background of numerous mountains to the crystal blue waters and even the dead coral that line the rocky beaches a postcard couldn’t do it justice. My time in Guantanamo Bay lasted just over a year and it was one of the more difficult years of my life. You see, while the Guantanamo Bay Naval Station is 45 square miles only about 5 square miles exist of usable space where you can do your shopping, activities and relaxing. And no we couldn’t go into Cuba proper as much as we all would have liked to. As you can guess it is very easy to go stir crazy, or as us locals said, rock-crazy after just a short while. Thankfully though there were a number of things to do on island including amazing fishing with some of the largest barracuda I have ever seen. Being in the Caribbean the scuba diving was also a popular activity and I can honestly say that GTMO has some of the most pristine water and coral that any diver could ever hope to see. While I was sad to leave the island in the end, and still miss being able to go scuba diving or fishing anytime I wanted, I was a very happy person once I left. My friends and family laughed when I came back to the States at how happy I was over the simplest of things including brunch at Applebee’s. It’s hard for those who don’t travel outside of the United States to comprehend how lucky we have it here.
Now that I am back in the United States, and living up here in the DC area now, I am able to continue a passion of mine that allows me to travel at a moment’s notice, flying. Since being a child flight has always intrigued me but unfortunately my mother is afraid of flying. And as much as I tried to talk her into letting me join the Civil Air Patrol, which would have taught me how to fly for free, she wasn’t having any of that. With the cost of general aviation flying not the cheapest activity in the world I only two years ago was able to take up lessons on learning to fly. From the moment I left the ground on that first flight though I was hooked. Going down to GTMO put a bit of a crimp in my plans however and just a few months ago I was able to restart my flying lessons and very shortly on my way to earning my private pilot’s license. Flying for me is one of the greatest ways to de-stress and put the world behind me. Being able to decide that I want to go somewhere, be it Pennsylvania or North Carolina, and in an hour be on my way is one of the greatest freedoms I cherish. Being in the air flying a general aviation plane, flying with the birds, is such an exhilarating experience and one that commercial air travel cannot replicate. Soaring at 140 miles per hour, passing town after town, and landing at a distant location allows me to realize those dreams I had as a child and I am glad I have the opportunity to fulfill this dream.
So as you can see I may not have the most interesting life in the world and I don’t have a great life story that you may find in the movies but even in my young life the travel’s that have been provided to me have distinctly shaped my future. I hope each and every one of you have the opportunities as I have had to travel to unique locations around this globe and fulfill dreams that you may have.
Mr. Toastmaster.
Just in time for me to come back to the States soon for a cruise with my friends and then back to GTMO. Til next time!
