The past few weeks have been a time of reflection for me. You see, I started D.L. Howell and Associates, Inc. 26 years ago last month. The week before I started the firm in 1999, my son was born, so I had a little extra pressure not to screw this whole thing up. I was 29 years old and thought I knew some engineering, but I was understandably nervous. After all, I was leaving my old boss and mentor, Ted Gacomis, at EB Walsh, had a new baby and essentially no money. Fortunately, I had great people surrounding me, encouraging me and giving me the feeling that I may actually be able to do this.
I say this all the time, but if I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have chickened out, but I almost certainly would have done things much more carefully, which I believe ultimately would have held me back. You miss 100% of the pitches you don't swing at, and being young and not very smart, I was swinging at everything I could.
As I sit here writing this newsletter, I am reflecting on so much. For one, we just held our 1st Annual Howell Open Golf Outing last week which benefitted the Theodore J. "Ted" Gacomis Scholarship fund for civil engineering students. It was a huge success, thanks entirely to all of our amazing clients, friends and colleagues, as well as our incredible marketing team at Smith and Howell Design Co. The scholarship fund means so much to me because, without Ted, I would not be doing what I am doing today. I got choked up just trying to thank everyone who participated in making it such a great day.
The week before the outing, I got to see my daughter graduate from the University of Delaware with a degree in Landscape Architecture! And before you ask, yes, she is working with me, and no, I could not be more proud. She is brilliant, tremendously tenacious and has worked extremely hard over the past five years in a highly subjective career field. Soon, she will be working in a new role at Howell Landforms, our newest venture, which will focus entirely on Landscape Architecture and Land Planning, and learning from Paul Lepard, one of the best in the business. More to come, so stay tuned.
Lastly, my son, the one who was born 26 years ago, is on the brink of joining the ranks of licensed engineers!!!!
How cool is all of this, and how lucky am I to have so much to reflect upon? Looking back on the last 26 years, has it been hard? Yeah, you bet ya. Most times more than hard, but worth it? Well, when you're tapped to write the newsletter the day before it's due (I don't want Rebecca to fire me) and you get to pour your reflective thoughts out like this, it sure seems easy! Onward and upward!
