ewinger.org :: Personal

Well, if you haven't guessed, the face in the upper left corner of your browser is me. When I created this section, I was never quite sure what I was going to say about myself. Oftentimes I find myself sometimes believing that a person is only what people perceive them to be. Some people who know me view me as a workaholic who spends way too much time concentrating on my professional life and not enough relaxing. There are others who think I am a nice but relatively conservative guy who likes to try new things, but not to the point of recklessness. On the other hand, there are still others who think I'm pretty impulsive and act without much forethought. Then again, there could be so many different views of me since the one thing that is always consistent about me is that I will always seek out people different than I am. It's what makes life tolerable!

I consider myself extremely fortunate at having picked up a wide and varied group of friends. Different social groups have represented different stages and moods in my life, and it's always nice to be able to share those memories with them. But even better is when those people move forward with you in life, and you can share new experiences and relationships with them as well. I find real meaning in my life by sharing it with my friends. It's a great feeling when good people invite you into their lives, friends and even family, and an even better one when you can do the same for them. I like sharing my life with people, and I think it's the best gift you can get when someone shares part of their life with you.

As for my family, I love them all very much. They are where I come from, and for that I am always proud of. Our immediate family has never been a close knit group, but above all else we respect each other and our own lives, which I think is critical to any healthy family. There are times when I am with some of my good friends' families that I envy the closeness that they share, but I think that every family has a different set of group dynamics that works for them. Everyone views their relationships with their families as one dysfunction or another, but the fact is that while most won't admit it, they truly enjoy those dysfunctions. One thing that I do find somewhat sad is that very few of my friends have met members of my family. In fact, a close friend of nearly sixteen years recently remarked that she never met my sister. Weird, huh? Well, I've been trying to change that lately by inviting some family to my restaurant club events.

Whew! That should be enough. Anything else, you can ask me, or if you're a good friend you should already know!