I love to tell stories. My travel stories compiled in come from my experiences in many remote village of Albania from the Balkan Alps to the borders of Macedonia. From working in orphanages and villages in Kazakhstan and Liberia, to setting up clinics for earthquake relief in Turkey, and a slum in Nairobi, Kenya. My stories are personal recollections of places I have sojourned. They are stories about people I have spent life with. In , I tell my stories as if you and I are sitting on the back porch drinking a cup of coffee. In between sips I might narrate a tale that brings you to tears, but then catapult you into a belly-laugh with the next story. These stories of actual events in my life are what I experienced and how I reacted to those experiences. What I felt, and how I processed those feelings. What I thought I knew and what I learned. I called a king "friend", and shook the hand of a Prime Minister over conversation. I planned with Ministers of foreign governments, and held the hands of street children in the slums whose only English was, "How are you?" I sat on the floor on sheep skin rugs and listened to the peoples stories of their lives, customs, beliefs, old-wives-tales, superstitions, and religion. I walked their trails, climbed their mountains, ducked through their jungles, and dodged their traffic. I laughed when they laughed, cried when they cried, I comforted and I was comforted. I knew where I was, and at times I didn't. I was confident, and at other times I wasn't. So, grab your coffee, and come along and join me on the back porch.