Andrew Epstein:  

There are few moments more humility-inducing than when someone asks, "So, what have you done with your life since high school?" The reality is... not much. But not for lack of trying. I floated from one crappy job to another, one crappy local college to another, made some money, spent some money. Ultimately, I ended up at a very nice corporation (okay... I know I used "nice" to describe a corporation, but at the time, they seemed really nice) making heavy bank. I got my dream car. I got my dream home theater. I achieved all my short-term life goals. And then I got sick. Really sick. The kind of sick that says, "It's amazing you're here typing this. We thought you were dead." Yeah. Me too. In the midst of being sick, I decided to learn to scuba dive. It was a "bucket list" item, and I had time to spare, having found myself loosely employed and being financed by my company to stay home and do nothing. If I was going to die, I might as well get a look at the pretty fish. But I didn't die, and the fish were pretty, so I left my company and became a scuba instructor. It was easy, the hours were few, and people seem to have fun at it, unlike any other job I've had where people just kinda glare at you. I got married shortly thereafter to a girl I met while scuba diving. She's a veterinarian. And a private pilot. And a nationally ranked saber fencer. And she's app...Expand for more