I was reading my biography on the NASA.GOV website, and I thought to myself, How did I get here? The son of steel mill worker, a kid who worked on a farm every day after school in rural Pennsylvania, I never dreamt I would be a physicist addressing critical fracture issues at a prestigious research institute, serving on the NASA panel of Materials Experts, or leading the exciting life I have in California--diving for abalone in the Pacific Ocean, backpacking the length and width of the Sierra Nevada mountains, and providing first aid to skiers on the slopes of a major ski resort. Looking back, I see the key event was a mysterious letter I received at age twenty-one--a result of the core principles instilled in me by my parents and my early life experiences.