I was lucky to be born on the southern shores of the Mediterranean Sea, specifically in Alexandria, Egypt. My summers were spent on the beach, enjoying the sunshine, the original surfboards/paddle boards, and the game of sand pickleball before it even made it to the US.

Not having TVs, I read many books, especially wartime ones, Ian Flemings’s early James Bond novels, John Le Carre, Agatha Christie, Maurice LeBlanc (Arsene Lupin), and other detective/mystery-type books. For school, we had to read all the French Classics. I was always intrigued by how the characters always managed to resolve their problems.