I Had a Plan to Become Fire Chief. Here’s Why Missing It Was the Best Thing That Happened.
Read Original Post | July 12, 2026 The Paper Route I never felt particularly smart growing up. I say that not as false modesty but as an honest accounting of how I understood myself for most of my early life. School was something I tolerated rather than excelled at. Mostly C’s in middle school. I had to maintain a 3.0 to drive in my family, so I graduated with a low 3.0 — exactly enough, not a point more. What I did have was an appetite for work that I cannot entirely explain. It started at eleven with a paper route. Through my teenage years I worked in a cabinet shop, a race shop, doing yard work, as a clerk’s helper at a grocery store. I typically had two jobs at a time and picked up every odd job placed in front of me. Nobody told me to do this. I just could not seem to stop. I mention this because it matters later. The work ethic was always there. The direction took longer to find. Brazil Before I landed in the fire service I spent two years living and working in Brazil. I did not ...