The Place: The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf

The Cup: Regular old coffee for Kirk and I.

The Background: The ever-lovely Cup 39, Patti DeNucci sent me an email a few weeks back telling me about a guy on her Mighty Fine MS-150 team who was interesting and wonderful, and thought he’d be a great person for me to meet and include in the project. Super duper! I love getting this sort of email, and after a bit of schedule coordination, Kirk and I had our coffee meeting set.

Patti was right – Kirk is quite interesting with a diverse background that includes working in the North Sea, writing a children’s book, running a ministry for under-served populations and riding his bike for a good cause, just as a start. We’ll get into all of that, but first let’s cover some:

Common Grounds:

1. What’s a food you can’t live without? Eggs. I eat eggs most of the week. Breakfast, and sometimes for supper. I like eggs a lot.
2. How did you make your first buck? Hauling hay in the summertime.
3. What is the best place to eat in Austin? La Escondita #3, on Ben White just before 1st St., on the south side.
4. What is the best compliment you ever got? The most interesting one I ever got was from my cousin Rita, who posted on Facebook, “You’re beautiful.” I know it wasn’t the picture. I think she was looking at overall character and it was a very uplifting compliment.
5. What is the best vacation you ever took? Probably a trip to Hawaii. We hiked to a place called Sacred Falls. It was a huge waterfall that fell into a pool of cold water. My brother was living there at the time, and it was a good vacation.
6. What is the best way to unwind? Swimming laps in the pool. I can’t think about anything else. It the only thing I do that takes everything out of my mind.
7. What book have you read that was impactful? The Snowball: Warren Buffet and the Business of Life was so interesting. It’s about the patterns he saw and the way people reacted to certain events. Also, Wild At Heart by John Eldredge is a book that really spoke to me.

Born and raised in southern New Mexico, Kirk left home when a college co-op experience one summer landed him on a boat in the North Sea. The man who ran the business liked Kirk so much, he made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Suddenly Kirk was making more money than he ever imagined a “farm boy from New Mexico” could ever make.

Early Mentoring

That man, Tom, ended up playing a significant role in Kirk’s life and has served not only as an employer, but also as a mentor, father-figure, and a friend over the years. Kirk started as a gun mechanic on the seismic boat and ended up serving at the ship’s engineer, where he was tasked with keeping the boat afloat, and moving forward, for three months at a time while they were at sea.

Tom started a technology company in Houston and asked Kirk to join him in that venture, which eventually led to Kirk developing a technology and launching a business of his own. This technology caught the attention of Raytheon, and Kirk accepted their offer to buy it. He spent the next five years working for Raytheon in what he describes as, “the longest five years of my life.” Kirk says, “I’d never worked for a large corporation before. Their decision-making process was incredibly tedious. I never understood Dilbert cartoons until I worked there.”

A Calling

After Raytheon, Kirk took on another challenge, but this time in a whole different category – ministry. Kirk had started a basketball ministry in an area of Katy, TX where there was a lot of poverty and where the people were all but forgotten about. He’d run basketball games, and during half-time he’d share some practical wisdom that the young people could think about, and then they’d finish the game. One day a man who had been helping Kirk with the program asked him if he’d be willing to do it full-time if this man would pay his family’s expenses for a year. Kirk agreed, and the man wrote out the check for an entire year of expenses. Kirk ran the ministry (which eventually included a small mission church) for, as Kirk says, “seven very good years.”

Going Home

When Kirk’s mother’s health began to fail, it was time to pack up and move closer to Las Cruces, NM to be able to assist her. His mom rallied, and as her health improved to the point of planning a cruise, Kirk and his wife were ready to relocate. They figured they’d head back to Houston, but friends in Austin had been talking to them about all the city had to offer and suggested they stop by on their way to Houston. They said, “If you don’t like it here, Houston is just three more hours up the road.” Kirk says, “We stopped in Austin seven years ago and never have found a reason to drive the last three hours to Houston.”

Goal Achievement

In the last 30 days, Kirk says the most significant thing that’s happened for him was just a few days prior, when he took 3rd place in his age category in the Lifetime CapTex Triathlon.

Besides fitness goals, Kirk is working on a list of other achievements. He tells me he’s not really a bucket list kind of guy, but he does track his goals every year and keeps records of them. He tapes his goals up on his bathroom mirror to serve as a reminder. A few he’s working on this year are to take his wife dancing at least quarterly (Q1 was a success, Q2 he was working on at the time of our interview), he is working on the formation of a second book he plans to write, and he has a list of books he intends to read this year. I love a man with a plan! Good stuff!

Kirk has very recently published his first book – a children’s book called Ralph The Stinky Dog, which is a heartfelt story about a boy, a dog and learning the important lessons of compassion. Kirk enjoyed the process so much, he’s getting ready to do it again. This time, with a whole new topic and for a whole new audience.

Social Studies

For the last year, Kirk has been doing some part-time work as a pedi-cab driver. He’s got the time, he enjoys the exercise and he really loves meeting all sorts of new people – often in various stages of intoxication, which surely leads to some interesting stories. Kirk has become quite fascinated with the pedi-cabber culture and is curious how they can survive on the money they earn. He’s built some friendships in the community and plans to interview drivers to find out how they make ends meet. He wants to find out if it’s possible to have a good life doing this, and not just live a subsistence life.

Kirk’s time with the people in his ministry will also provide examples and data for the book. Kirk says there was a certain culture within that population they were trying to help. For the most part, prison was an inevitable stopping point on their journey. It wasn’t a bad thing. In fact, it was seen as natural, expected and good in some cases. Most would never get a job. They would be paid by the government twice a month and on payday they would play dominoes under a certain tree and drink beer. As older community members grew old and died, the younger ones inherited their chair under the tree, and life moved along this way for generations.

Potential

Kirk feels there is a useful message in all of this. He’s just trying to figure out how to write something that speaks to these folks. As someone who is clearly goal-focused, as Kirk is, it’s nearly impossible for him to understand, let alone relate to, the mindset of life just passing you by. He says, “A lot of these young people have so much potential.” Then Kirk shares an interesting conversation. He tells me about a young man he was trying to help who said to him, “If you spent one day in my life, you’d never go back to yours.” Isn’t that interesting.

In Kirk’s view, the greatest issue facing society today is our insistence on political correctness. He tells me, “Our society has become so “correct” that they’re completely intolerant of anything else anyone has to say, think or do. That’s going to undermine this country. We’ll end up in a state of segregation unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. I believe political correctness increases intolerance.”

The daily ritual Kirk makes time for is a few quiet moments every morning with a cup of coffee and his Bible, pondering things and slowly getting ready for the day. He says, “After doing this, I am much more equipped to handle the day.”

Peace, Love and Hugs

If Kirk had just 30 seconds to make a speech to the world, his message is short, simple and sweet. He says, “Treat everyone like you want to be treated. And give them a hug, whether they need it or not. We need more hugging.”

I find myself chewing on the conversation Kirk had with the young man who was clearly happy with his life, but who Kirk was convinced could be doing so much more. I can see both sides of that, though I am much more aligned with Kirk and find myself saddened by wasted potential. But I then have to remind myself that we all define success differently.

Kirk’s message to treat others as we want to be treated, I believe, offers some insight into why Kirk is so interested in helping people achieve more. As a young man, Kirk was helped by a mentor who saw the potential in “a young farm boy from New Mexico.” For Kirk, that relationship is one of the most important of his life. And he’s simply trying to pay it forward and love people in the same way he was loved and nurtured.  Perhaps he can envision how differently his life may have turned out, and simply wants to show people the possibilities that exist.

It’s a noble endeavor. And no doubt, Kirk has touched many lives and will continue to impact countless others who just need someone to see potential in them. That’s the lesson I walk away with – I realize that it never hurts to believe in someone. You may be the only person who does. It may matter to them, it may not. They may change course, they may not. But there is plenty of room in this world for more love, compassion and definely more hugging. Oh, and dancing, Kirk. {You better get on that!}