Growing up, I never left the state of Florida. While my teenage adventures took me from the beaches of Jacksonville to the Suwannee River near the state capital, to the southern most point of the United States in Key West, Florida was my island.
During my college freshman year, I joined a group headed to Chicago. I bought an oversized tweed jacket in a downtown thrift store and spent the week in bars and blues clubs. Later that same year, I found myself in a rainy New York City on 5th avenue next to the diva herself, Ella Fitzgerald, standing next to Mayor Ed Koch, ready to begin some crazy parade.
From that day on, I knew I was destined to see the world.