Carl Alessi:  

Life Since high school, the first major event in my life occurred in October of 1981. I collapsed one Friday--an X-ray found a large, cancerous mass in my chest. Fortunately, I completely recovered to roam the earth once again. (While reading the next 3 paragraphs, imagine the theme from "The 3 Stooges" in the background). After the hospital, I thought I could build up my strength by delivering bottled water. On my second day of training a woman ran a red light and broadsided our truck. She hit us so hard she knocked it upside down--the two other unrestrained guys landed on me, and I crawled out with a broken collarbone. (The day before, these guys wanted to play miniature golf. I tripped while chasing the ball. So now, by the time I get to the hospital after the truck accident, it’s disclosed to me that I have a broken collarbone from the truck and a broken big toe from the miniature golf course. That’s two bones broken within twenty-four hours. So help me.) A year later, I took a week’s vacation, and a friend suggested we go skydiving. To me, this sounded like a great opportunity after a frightening couple of years to do something that might otherwise scare me. So we went through our one-day class, got in the plane, took off and jumped. I came out of the plane without fear, got control of the risers, and targeted myself almost perfectly into the bull’s-eye and felt my left leg crumple under me. The diagnosis was a broken left fibula, distal end (i.e., a broken ankle). I no longer skydive. Eventually I went to work for a video dating service called Great Expectations as the guy who did the taped interviews. It wasn’t a bad gig, and I never got injured doing it. One day (November 18, 1985) I’m standing at the front desk, and my wife walked in. Of course I didn’t know she was my wife at the time, but life is full of surprises (as you can tell). Joyce (my future wife) and I started a videotaped interview. To make a long story short, we were married August 30, 1986; we don’t have a video of our wedding, but Joyce and I are the only couple I know of that has their first conversation entirely documented on videotape. She ...Expand for more