When I mentioned to my wife that I was thinking of retiring from my Safety Engineer position at Aberdeen Proving Ground, she said “You’re
not going to stay home and do nothing.” I asked her what she thought I should do. She said “Since you like to draw and like working with
computers, it should be something that includes both.” Some time later, we were headed to the beach for our vacation and she asked if we could
stop at a scrapbooking store in Lewis, DE. She enjoyed scrapbooking and so we stopped. While she was about finding the scrapbooking materials
she needed, I looked around the store and noticed templates and cut-outs that were not in regular manufacturer’s packaging. I asked the person
behind the counter, who turned out to be the owner, about those products. She said she made them at home on her laser cutter. The “AH HA!”
light went on. Once I got home I started to research about laser engraving/cutting machines. Being the engineer that I am (37 years in various
engineering fields) I made my choice. I tried to explain to my wife what I could do with a laser engraver/cutter. She being a hands-on type person
just could not visualize what I was trying to tell her. During my research, I found the east coast distributor, for the laser I had chosen, was
located in Fredericksburg, VA. Since we were members of a RV resort in Fredericksburg and we were planning our RV vacation, I added Fredericksburg
to our list of stops. I mentioned to my wife that we were going to stop in and check out the laser and what it could do. She kept asking if I had
called the individual and I kept putting her off with I’ll call when we get there. Once in Fredericksburg, we headed off to check out the laser.
I still hadn’t called but using GPS, we headed to what I thought was a store. We passed through an industrial area and ended up in a residential
area and still had not found the laser place. At that point I called. The man’s wife answered and said we were in luck because her husband had a
dentist appointment and this was the only weekend he was home. We found the house and my wife and I got a demonstration of the laser and saw
samples of what can be made using the laser. We did not buy the laser at that time but rather I worked as an engineering consultant for an
additional five years until my wife’s death in December 2006. In May of 2007 I woke up in the middle of the night, as if my wife had reached
from the grave and hit me between the eyes with that “AH HA!” moment, that I needed to buy the laser. I got the laser in July and established
my business in August 2007. Ever since then I have been doing custom laser engraving/cutting.