My earliest encounter with a giraffe was during my first visit to the zoo in San Francisco. I raced through the gates and stopped at a cyclone fence. Holding onto the metal grate I looked at what appeared or be 4 skinny tree trunks. My gaze went up and there was a massive chest then a long neck and finally a, seemingly smiling face of a large animal peering over the top of the fence looking at me. I remember distinctly my mother and father laughing at my reaction to this magical discovery of this large animal. Therefore, my first children’s book was about a giraffe.

There are two themes in my books: First in Charlie, he loses his family in a violent storm and is washed down the river to an area foreign to him. He must learn to survive on his own and find shelter and food for the first time. Much like a child who is orphaned or lives with one parent who may or may not be there for them as they grow up. They too must learn to survive on their own and the overarching theme is if you make good friends and good decisions, as Charlie did, you will survive and flourish. Second: with Gurutu the giraffe he is ostracized from the herd because he has large feet, and they make too much noise. He then grows into his feet and becomes a very large animal capable of taking care of himself along with his newfound friend a kingfisher bird. Together they grow to love one another. The point is friendship should not be exclusive only to one of your own kind and if you are teased for some physical flaw, you must preserver because you will grow out of it and become the person you were meant to be either by natural growth patterns or hard work.

I look forward to the production of an animated movie about my friend Charlie which will be available in a couple of years to the viewing public. There is also a manuscript that I have written that chronicle the early days of my life after I graduated from the U S Naval Academy. The script is being written as we speak and reflect my experiences in the U S Navy and with several women along the way, only to find real, true love for the first time in my life. My affair was brief in Hong Kong, and I left her behind when my ship went back to sea. It has become moment in time. I will never forget about the love I lost that summer a long way from home.