I was Born in 1976. In a little Island in the Caribbean known as Cuba. The province I grew up in was known as Matanzas, the same province where Varadero Beach is Located. Where I grew up was a little town that was very poor an hour drive at least from Varadero or any city. Growing up I never had any toys from stores or anything like kids have today. My most advanced toys where a pocketful of glass marbles and a home made wooden top that my dad made me. I grew up bare footed running around out doors and playing marbles with my friends after school. On week ends the days where never long enough for all the fun we had. We would ride horses to the river, swim and fish, make bird cages from palm tree leaves and forage for all kinds of fruits. I had so much energy and was always so happy that I had no time to really worry about anything.
In 1987 my Dad and I Migrated to the United States by way of Panama. My Dad's brother was very well off in Boston and owned several restaurants and had been doing our papers with his lawyers and the embassy of Panama for years until my grandfathers went first, then we got to go a few years later. When I got to Panama first I could not believe the abundance of food and all kinds of toys and things my little cousins had. It was amazing, but still there we would ride skateboards most of the day and our bicycles and where super active all day. Because I was not planning on staying in Panama they did not enroll me in school and I got to spend tons of time fishing and enjoying the outdoors for the time I was there.
When I finally reached the United States I was even more amazed by the amount of toys my cousin had. He even had little cars and trucks that you could ride like a real car. The basement of the house was full of toys. My cousin still had all of these toys and he was bored most of the time and would watch cartoons for hours and lay around complaining that he was bored. I taught him how to fish right away and we would go to the lake in the Golf Course behind our house and have a blast fishing for hours. Once I got acclimated I got myself a pedal bike and with one of my friends in school learned on how to sign up to get a paper route. I then started delivering news papers and my cousin would come along. A year later I had an 80 newspaper route and would deliver news papers all week then on the week ends would sell lemonade on the 4th hole for the golf course that met our back yard.
One Day one of the Golfers said I could make good money as a Caddy on the week ends, so I started doing that by the time I was 13 I was already making around $150 per week between Caddying and my Paper Route. This was in 1990 and was great money for a kid. I saved my money and spent a lot on more toys and clothes as the years passed, the more I had the more I wanted and the more clutter I would accumulate as the years passed. Once I was old enough to drive I got my first car and drove around for a few years until I finished high school and joined the Marines. There I was taught the importance of good discipline and grit. I was lucky to live in the years where we did not have as much attention grabbing information coming at us from every angle. I think I was lucky to have lived this way even though to others it may have looked like I was poor. Today I look around and see kids that have it all, they are so unhappy and unappreciative because nothing seems to impress them any more. Some times I think we have gone too far with technology and commodities and now there is no turning back or undoing what we have done.
At about 4 years old outside my grandpas home in the country sitting on a home made chair. They had no electricity and the floors where made of dirt.