Life is One Big Story

First and foremost Life is one Big Story is a written record of my beginnings to know me as I was before they met me. Secondly I want to dig through my memory files while my mind is still working well. Thirdly writing this affords me the opportunity to revisit and re-examine my lifes highs and lows not idealized but with its warts and all. Finally after becoming retired new friends and acquaintances ask Who are you] and What have you done? This attempts to answer those questions as well as reflect on what my life has taught me. Moreover I have lived a large life that others might find interesting and worth reading about. Everyone has a story to tell about their life the circumstances that they were born into and what they did with what they had to work with. This is my story. Although not born and raised inside a gilded cage I was rich with mentors along the way pushing and guiding me into the right direction. And despite my being the son of nominally educated parents I proudly ended my career as a Professor of Neurology and a Sleep Medicine Clinician. Yet none of that could have been possible were it not for the patient and persistent support of Annie my beloved wife and mother of our exceptional daughter Inge.Life has taken me from living in Belgium to the Netherlands to the USA and then to retirement living in Spain. Even in retirement however life has not been at a standstill. Annie and I make bi-annual trips to visit our little family in Dallas and I keep engaged in my search for knowledge understanding the latest scientific achievements and exploring what this life is all about.Insights(1) Aquarian drive I possess a capacity for working tirelessly to accomplish my goals be they overcoming an inferiority complex or pursuing multiple academic degrees while teaching school. No one had to push me; in fact anyone discouraging or disparaging me just spurred me to strive even harder. (2) My grandfathers insistence that I take his first name Albert led me to discovering my patron saint Albertus Magnus. His life and love of studying everything from Logic to Astronomy prompted me to emulate him by becoming a scientist exploring a variety of fields. Remarkably I would exceed Albertus Magnus methodology of observing describing and classifying; my business and academic studies would lead to making significant discoveries. Nevertheless he remains the iconic embodiment of who I sought to be and I cannot credit him enough for his inspiration. (3) Although shy and introverted in the past I am at heart a social being committed to taking care of people and being a loving giving person. The hypocrisy that I rejected in the Catholic church however I encountered in hospitals and private companies where patients and clients were merely revenue generators. My humanistic side reached full bloom saving lives as the Clinical Director of one of the largest sleep centers in the US yet it cost me my job. While retired in Arenas Andalucia Spain I have been free to unsparingly volunteer my time and expertise orienting and assisting newcomers into the area. I experienced such a warm satisfaction from strengthening relationships with our neighbors and seeing all the positive results of my efforts. But when their problems started becoming my problems I had to take a week of rest and relaxation in Algarve Portugal where our best friends Eddy and Jeannine live to revive myself. Nevertheless I was honored being Alberto de Bentomiz!(4) Ive been a risk-taking optimist focusing not on what could go wrong but on what could go right. Leaving the ordered comforts