It is fascinating how relatively simple childhood events can be so incredibly formative:
"I remember my mom’s friend Shirley. I can’t remember her last name. She lived across the street. That woman had an incredible influence on me. She taught me how to swim. I was really young, under seven. Her daughter was named Drew. Maybe I was five or six. She had three or four kids and she used to take us all to the community pool in the summertime. Back in those days we just jumped in and started to swim. She gave me a little bit of guidance here and a little bit of guidance there ... but she gave me an incredibly powerful experience. My mom doesn’t know how to swim and is afraid of the water. Had it not been for Shirley I never would have learned how to swim. .... I remember the day. I remember the situation. I remember her telling me I looked like a little fish. I remember all of that, clear as day.
It was a powerful feeling... one of my earliest memories of being empowered, she gave me the responsibility and accountability of learning how to do something. And I felt incredibly powerful."