My father was an executive vice president of a commercial real estate company during the go-go 1980s.
He made MAD money, loads and loads. Almost printed the stuff. Houses. Cars. Boats. Bitches. The works. For a while, he was THE MAN.
Got a wild hair up his ass and decided to see me. He would pop in and out of my life every couple of years.
I was 12, maybe 13.
He drove me downtown to the Westgate Hotel, then one of the larger buildings in San Diego. His office was on the upper floor, just a throw away from the roof.
Leading me up a stairwell, he pointed to a little room where he stashed away a folding chair and a shirt hanger. Here is where he could escape the madness of the corporate world, taking his dress shirt off to get some sun during lunch.
The view was spectacular.
He asked me to lay down on my belly, placing my head just over the roof’s edge … in order to look down. He described vertigo as a rush unlike any other. He was my dad. I did whatever he said. Plopped myself down.
He grabbed my feet and pushed me forward, … enough so that about half my torso hung over the city’s floor, cars buzzing and honking below.
I didn’t get vertigo.
Instead I was mesmerized by the height, the majesty, and order of life about me.
And I mean it.
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checalaloskelsos@gmail.com
Craig Edward Kelso is the author of Anarcho-Capitalism (2014), a primer on the philosophy of peaceful, stateless cooperation. His curriculum vitae include a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from San Diego State University, and a Post-Baccalaureate secondary education credential in both Social Science and English Language Arts. Kelso taught for nearly a decade in the American public school system, and was voted by colleagues Teacher of the Year, twice in his short tenure, earning numerous accolades from chambers of commerce, mayors, state assembly persons, governors, congresspersons, senators, and even Wal-Mart. Currently he struggles to earn an opportunity to be employed, working as a laborer, dishwasher. He is deliriously happily married to Myra Kelso, living in Southern California with their adorable children.
*
checalaloskelsos@gmail.com
Craig Edward Kelso is the author of Anarcho-Capitalism (2014), a primer on the philosophy of peaceful, stateless cooperation. His curriculum vitae include a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from San Diego State University, and a Post-Baccalaureate secondary education credential in both Social Science and English Language Arts. Kelso taught for nearly a decade in the American public school system, and was voted by colleagues Teacher of the Year, twice in his short tenure, earning numerous accolades from chambers of commerce, mayors, state assembly persons, governors, congresspersons, senators, and even Wal-Mart. Currently he struggles to earn an opportunity to be employed, working as a laborer, dishwasher. He is deliriously happily married to Myra Kelso, living in Southern California with their adorable children.
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