Tools for Life

    In December of 1995 I left Greece for Italy. I left my backpack and all of its contents in a hostel in downtown Athens. I didn’t really know where I was going. I just wanted to wander. Since it was winter I wore most of my clothing. In my jacket, which had a pouch in front, I carried the following items for my wander: toothpaste and toothbrush, a roll of toilet paper, a change of socks, passport and money, and a small, swiss, army knife, the kind with just a few blades.

    I made it to Meteora in central Greece where a snow storm prevented me from even seeing the hanging monasteries. I traveled on to Igoumenitsa and caught a ferry to Brindisi, Italy. As I wandered down the main street leading away from the port I saw a sign. Albania. I knew Albania was a country, one that had been closed off to the world for nearly 40 years. I knew nothing else. I went into the agents office, and asked about tickets to Albania. He looked at my passport and said, “Un Americano in Albania!?,” like it was the dumbest thing he had ever heard. He then sold me a ticket.

    I sailed to Vlore, Albania. My adventures started with $5 bananas and went uphill and downhill from there. I ended up staying with a very kind family for 3 days in Tirana, a mother, a father, and their little boy, Yanni, who was 5 years old. The family took very good care of me. When I left, I wanted to give them a gift. They had given me many. What did I have to give.

    I handed the father my small, swiss, pocket knife and said, “for Yanni, for Yanni.” I set it on the kitchen table and we walked out to catch my bus back to Vlore.

    Sometimes all you have to give are the tools you carry with you, or the tools you learn along the way. Sometimes, those tools are all you need, the tools for life.

    My company was named Tools for Life based on this experience and my belief that there are basic tools we can identify and use to create our very best life each day.