It began when I was young. I tested my vocal cords with loud incessant crying. Thankfully I was born right before Christmas and the calming walks my parents gave me included a trip past the cookie tray. Once essential verbal skills were acquired, I transferred most of the crying effort into talking. This continued through my schooling, punctuated during each parent-teacher conference with the reminder that I needed to work on my diarrhea of the mouth during school hours. Somehow, this motor mouth landed in one of the most socially awkward industries around. I grew up with dirt on my hands and building on my mind. Hour long Tonka truck sessions constructing who-knows-what in the sandbox were followed by impromptu dam construction in the gutters during rain storms. I loved construction equipment and I longed to drive a scraper.(I still do). No toy will ever be as special to me as my Legos. The floor of my bedroom was permanently littered with the little bright bricks, fastened together in whatever shape my brain imagined that day. These puzzle pieces all lead to where I sit today - a professional civil engineer working on transportation projects across Colorado. I still talk all the time. I still enjoy getting my hands dirty. I love building things. And I still love to play with Tonka trucks and Legos.