Biography of a G-Man

In eighth grade I won a Disney Dreamers and Doers award for being the most intelligent and interesting person in a Marion County middle school (really). This is an award given to just one person at each of the three education levels (elementary, middle, and high) in each Central Florida county for having characteristics Walt prized: creativity, ingenuity, courage, individuality, altruism, and others.

I like this award. In my school career I received many awards for being good at this or the best at that. But I didn't really care about them. Today those awards are lost in storage. On the other hand, I know exactly where my Dreamers and Doers medal is.

I like to think that I received it for meeting my own expectations, not somebody else's. I didn't even know the award existed until after I won it. I earned that medal, but by being me, not by being what somebody else wanted me to be.