Chris Topa:  

Life You can AIM "cjtopa69" or email "cjtopa" at "sbcglobal" dot "net" so we can get in touch. After about 3 years discerning my vocation, while spending time visiting a monastery, my perspective on life has changed. I owe a great deal to the kindness, direction and friendship the members of the community have continued to provide me. Without them, I would probably still be wandering aimlessly through life. Life itself has provided some hard lessons. I sufferred through some health problems, surgery and some losses, as my sister-in-law, both of my high school prom dates and several friends have past away. I can now say the dumbest thing I've done is allow fear and selfishness rule my life. I spent too much time not caring enough or concerned enough about my family, friends and acquaintances through the years. I'm sorry if you are one of those I have hurt or not talked to recently. My life is now, well, a little more decided. After struggling through my early college years, I finished my BSPA in 1992, MBA in 2000, my MPA in 2002, my JD in 2006 and I am currently working on my LLM and PhD. I'm now living the happily married life and trying to enjoy it to the fullest. We have a new addition to our family. On Tax Day, appropriately enough, we added a beautiful little girl. I'm no longer doing the dangerous things (rock climbing in the Rockies and bungie jumping off a bridge in California) and, I'm still doing some wonderfully moving things: climbed several different mountains, spend time in silent contemplation at a monastery, watched the sun rise over the Gulf and set over the Pacific. I left the property management firm and Bloomington in 2003 and moved to Michigan. I still help run a small computer firm suppling hardware and software to not-for-profits and churches. I also helped to found a Community Coalition in Washtenaw County helping the IRS Volunteer Return Preparat...Expand for more