About Me — Daniel Sadowski-Tello
Who is the writer behind the words?
I believe I’ve written enough that it is unfortunate until now that I realize that I haven’t even introduced myself. I was born and raised in South Florida and lived there for nearly 30 years. Endured countless hurricanes, tornadoes, and ‘embarrassments’ regarding ‘Florida Man…’ in the headlines of news reports.
I am a 3rd generation Polish immigrant through my dad who was born and raised in New Jersey and 1st generation Colombian immigrant my mother having arrived to the U.S. alone at the age of 22.
I have one brother who is 5 years older than me who is quite the academic titan as a graduate of Cornell University and received his Master’s degree in Geology at the University of Nevada-Reno.
I, on the other hand, fought and struggled to pass tests and be accepted by people as well as academic circles.
Growing up I had a terrible speech impediment as I stuttered to the point that I never wanted to talk.
For teachers to call on me to read aloud was torture and to be social was even more difficult.
I received speech therapy in public school from Kindergarten to 8th grade and within that time I found refuge and acceptance in my own world of writing.
My passion for writing was kindled in the 3rd grade when I had a strict teacher drill into us the necessity to pass a State standardized test.
To my surprise I found out that the writing portion of this test I scored the best in my class on and the other portions I didn’t do as well, but I still passed.
C’s get degrees, right?
I went to the next grade and I was still writing but this time I was creating short stories and historically fiction-based tales that were set around the time of the American Civil War seeing as I was a huge Civil War buff.
As I marveled at American history and military service tradition practiced in my families I found that I wanted to carry on that tradition as well.
Fast forward a few more years and academic grades later, I found myself having a seizure the day after my 12th birthday which led to a series of events, neurologist visits, trials with medications, and more seizures ultimately leaving me diagnosed as the first epileptic in my family.
The doctors shrugged their shoulders without an answer to the cause or reason why it appeared so ‘late’ in my life.
My dreams towards serving in the military couldn’t escape my mind to the point where I ended up becoming a NJROTC cadet all 4 years in high school which brought a lot of structure, discipline, focus, and instilled leadership in me I never thought I could have.
During my struggles in my teens I tried finding love and acceptance in all the wrong places and people (girlfriends and bad influences).
As high school breezed through I didn’t have a ‘back up plan’ if the military was a ‘no-go’. Until senior year had dawned I had enough of living a life that I knew wasn’t acceptable to my conscience and before God and at the time I was skeptical and upset with God about how my life was.
I experienced Jesus’ love through friendships in school with very loving friends who were always concerned about me when they heard I had another seizure or I ‘wasn’t feeling well’.
It was that last year of high school that I turned my life over to Jesus to have a personal relationship with Him, which led to a series of events and adventures that were painted with His love, faithfulness, provision, and blessings.
I would later go on to study at a Bible College in Lima, Peru a couple of years after graduating high school and then finding the majority of my 20s serving as a missionary and English teacher in Colombia where I would inevitably meet my now loving wife.
I’d say in the last 10 years, but more so in the last year I’ve been pursuing the ever-growing conviction from The Almighty to pursue writing much more as I left it dormant in my life as it’s not only a passion of mine, but something I’ve found that comes naturally (that doesn’t mean I’m a Hemingway or anything).
Conclusion
This is the abridged version of my introduction perhaps getting to know me through my continued writing will do it justice and with that said I hope you enjoy my work.
