Hiya! I'm Keith, also known as Pec, and I suppose you're here because you want to know a little about me. It's hard to compress seven years into about 750 words, but, here goes . . .

Back in January of 1991 I was on my way to work at seven A.M. in the morning, when I became another Maryland highway statistic. I was crossing the road and my Jeep slid on a patch of black-ice into the path of an oncoming van. Well, my Jeep was a soft-top and the bumper of the van struck my head at 55 mph. and threw me into a coma.

Three months later, bright lights, white ceiling tiles, and looks of concern on faces I didn't recognize, were all that I saw when I woke up in Bryn Mawr Rehab in Pennsylvania. A terrifying feeling and confusion and panic predominated my mind as I tried to figure out where I was, who these people were, and why I couldn't move or talk! Seven months of intense - sometimes painful - rehab later, I was wheeled out of the front doors to return home.

Upon my return home to Maryland, I expected everything to return to the way it was before I left. It didn't. I had false hopes and expectations about certain things that were crushed almost immediately by a bitter society. Devastated by this, I went into hibernation for about three months. It probably would have lasted longer, except I had to continue rehab to rid myself from the chair. Two years pass.

After that was over and I was able to get around on a cane, and was bounced from one organization to the next as people looked for a particular niche to fit me into. Team Rehab, Lower Shore Enterprises, Maryland Rehab Center, and a few others all tried. The problem here was that all of these places had the same mind set: give the gimpy guy (me) a low-paying assembly job. I didn't want one - something I told them all from the start of all this mayhem. But it seems they had certain criterions to follow and kept insisting. (Probably a handbook published in the 1960's no doubt) So I decided to take matters into my own hands and do something about this lack of cooperation I was getting. In the meantime, 2 more years passed.

In March of 1995 I published my first story, In September of 1995, I enrolled in college and became a volunteer at the newly built Chesapeake Rehab Center. In 1996 I was published 29 times; won two literary awards in college; took over the managing editor's job at our school paper; got elected for a student representative for the college president's advisory committee; and I became the Parent's Support Group Coordinator for our college because of my writing abilities. During the summer of 1996 I became the youngest town commissioner ever to chair in our town's history.

Shortly after being elected I managed to total my car and end up in the hospital again with fractured knees. This accident was not anywhere as serious as my previous one, and although this one could be blamed on brake failure, I decided I was simply trying to do too much. So with that fact placed firmly in my mind, I decided to slow the pace before I killed myself, or worse, someone else.

The beginning of 1997 was an evolution of a newer Keith. One who had slowed his hectic pace down a great deal now. I did this by resigning my chair on town counsel and buying this computer to enhance my writing life. After logging online things started to fall into place for me. Sound crazy? Read on!

You see I found a chat room on Yahoo! where I met the most wonderful person in the world! A 26 year old teacher named Laura "Gracie" Manes. Back in May of 1997 when we met, I had no idea our Internet relationship would unfold into something tangible. In fact, I was strongly opposed to them anyway. But believe it or not, a leopard does change it's spots.

We started dating in July and it has been wonderful ever since! There is only one small problem though, she lives more than 1800 miles away from me in New Mexico. (For any of you Internet romance skeptics out there, yes I have been to see her and she is twice as wonderful in person) I just returned from my trip out there on January 6th.

Our future looks like this: She is coming to Maryland in may, we're going to rent a van and drive back to New Mexico, I will continue to write, I freelance, and she will continue to teach, hence the trip in May. And who knows where we'll end up.

Speaking of changing spots, I never saw myself really committing to another relationship - I was engaged in '95 - but, on January 23rd I popped the question and she accepted. It seemed strange to do it 1800 miles away, nonetheless, I figured that since we have spent about 400 hours on the phone and much more than that on the Internet so it seemed sorta' fitting. However, we reached a mutual agreement to make this a long engagement. You know, to work out any little foibles we may have with one another before we take a headlong plunge into the matrimony thing. You might say our future is blurry, but, it's getting clearer with each passing day! All that really matters is that we will be together. I can't ever see myself with anyone but Laura anyway, and maybe, just maybe, that was the reason for all these cataclysms in my life. You know what though? It was worth it all!

Now, if you would be so kind as to leave a generous tip on the way out the door . .

Email Keith