I was born in 1963, the last child of Thomas and Janet. I have two older brothers—Thomas and James—and an older sister—Sara. For the first four or five years of my life, I imagined being full of turmoil only because of the simple fact that I was not living with my biological family. I lived with an aunt for a while but do not remember that time. My first memory was when I was four or five years old. It was my birthday. I was living with a foster family in Delaware. It was a happy moment in my young life; I still visited my biological family at times, supervised by the State. I spent most of my younger years with that foster family until 12 years old. At that point, they adopted me, and my name changed to Franklin William Reece. Shortly after that, they divorced, so I was in another broken home. After the divorce, I lived with my adopted mother. That was a difficult time. I had no father figure to help me learn about growing up into manhood. My adoptive mother and I always argued.

I ran away from home several times. Most of the time, I would wander around downtown and return home when school started the following week. In my teen years, I had my share of trouble. I was a quiet, shy kid looking for something to fill a void in my life. Getting in trouble was a way of getting attention, but the wrong kind of attention. I remember the last time I got into trouble as a teenager. A police officer pulled me aside and talked with me. One of the things he said to me was, “You don’t belong here. You’re a good kid. I don’t want to see you waste your life away.” That got me thinking. Since the divorce, being the man in the family and only sixteen, I had to find myself.

Still, I did not know what I wanted to do with my life. Instead of staying home and doing nothing, I joined the service. One weekend, I went to the mall where the recruiting offices were. The only one open was the Marine Corps, where a Sergeant greeted me at the door—dressed in his blues uniform. At 16, just the look of the uniform was impressive. Talking to him made me feel that I belonged. That night, I signed up. Since I was underage, my adoptive mother had to sign me in.

The Corps did straighten me out. I received my training in the field of my choice. As a bonus, I traveled around the world. I lived in Japan for over a year. By the way, great people and culture. If you ever have the chance to visit, I highly recommend it. Some of my travels have been with the Marine Corps. In the Corps for eight great years, I have met and worked with the finest men and women in the world. While in the Marine Corps, the things I have learned have made me the man I am today.

After the Corps, I found work in the computer field. I have seen the computer evolve over the past 40 years, from big mainframe computers with vacuum tubes to the laptop I currently use. That has been a journey in itself. I have enjoyed my endeavors and hope to find satisfaction in my writing. In closing, I hope you enjoy my website as you partake in my journey at this fork of the road called LIFE.