I grew up a Surfer here in Southern California. Surfing was the love of my life for many years.

After I graduated from college I moved to Hawaii and worked in “Marine Construction” building piers, dredging harbors, and stacking rocks in the Jetties.

I have an affection for all things nautical: boats, pirates, fish, surfboards, and yes… ANCHORS!

While my wife was pregnant with out first child we had an ongoing debate concerning what name to give the child if we had a boy. I kept kidding my wife and making my mother-in-law nervous by insisting that I intended to name the child “BARNACLE.“

Yes, “Barnacle!” The crusty sea creature that grows on rocks and the bottom of boats… my wife prayed for a girl.

Well, we did have a boy. My wife did such a heroic job birthing him I figured she earned the right to name him. We named our son BRENDAN. His middle name was going to be Alex. The night he was born I went home alone from the hospital to sleep and I had a flash of inspiration. The birth had been very hard and very long. We had planned a home birth with a midwife but we had to go to the hospital when the baby got stuck.

My son’s middle name would be….. Anchor.

I named the office after my son.