Gerry Lindstrom

Wow I find it hard to believe twenty years have gone by already. When I graduated High School twenty years was a lifetime, now it seems like just a blink of the eye. I guess its true time flies when you're having fun.

After Graduation, I moved 100 miles north to El Vado Lake to help my parents with the Lake Shore Inn. The Lake Shore Inn was a motel, restaurant and most importantly a bar. I did everything from general maintenance to cooking, to occasionally bartending. It seems the only thing I didn't have to do was clean motel rooms.

I was not sure what I wanted to do with my life, but I was certain I didn't want to continue in the direction I was headed. I decided to go to college. I enrolled at NMSU for the spring semester of 88. I got off to a good start but my grades started suffering from too much partying. The next semester Scott Irving, Chris Collins and I rented a condo together. This would prove to be the end of my college experience as I managed to party myself right out of college.

I went back to El Vado where for the next few years I worked odd jobs half the year and the other half I worked as a professional hunting guide. We would start each season at the end of August hunting antelope. As soon as we finished the antelope hunt, we would pack our gear up into the mountains where archery elk/deer season lasted for twenty days. Then, we would get a ten day break before rifle season would start. The next time we would get a break, hunting season was over and it was Christmas. I really enjoyed guiding, but it definitely was a profession only suited for bachelors.

In 95, I started dating Terri. She's the person who would one day be my wife and the mother of our children. Terri was recently divorced teacher. A mutual friend insisted on getting us together. Terri kept telling our friend that she wasn't interested in me because I had bad attitude. But she needed work done on her house, so she agreed to have me do the work. I guess my charm won her over because by the time I finished her project we were dating. This would be the end of my career as a guide because it proved impossible for me to be separated from her for the amount of time required to do my job.

The summer of 96 in addition to working as a carpenter we started Up the Creek Shuttle Service. We shuttle vehicles for rafters running the Chama River between Cooper's Ranch and Abiquiu.

After dating three years, Terri basically told me to "s**t or get off the pot", so on June 19th 1999 we were married. The next couple of years were difficult. Terri got pregnant and miscarried. Then we tried again but she couldn't conceive. Finally after about a year of monthly disappointments, with a little help from the fertility clinic, Terri got pregnant. In the early mourning of December 31, 2001 after a hair raising drive from El Vado to Los Alamos Medical Center, our first daughter Kayleigh was born nine minutes after arriving at the hospital at 5:09 AM. I never thought being a parent could be so enjoyable. When I was younger being the thought of being a parent seemed more like a prison sentence than a gift, but now I see how wrong I was. I wouldn't trade parenthood for anything.

In 2003, after an immense amount of soul searching, I finally built up the nerve to get my contractors license and start my second business, GPL Enterprises. So for the last four years I've been working at building respectable business reputation. Being self-employed is both exciting and scary all at the same time. During this time on October 17th 2005, my wife gave birth to our second daughter Jordan (also in Los Alamos).

Well that's my life in a nutshell. I intentionally left out most of my failures (trust me there were plenty) because I honestly believe I wouldn't be where I am today if I hadn't tripped along the way.

Gerry