J. Angelo Greco III

I was born 36 years ago in a time of free love and apparently incredibly good parties. Adolescence was typical. Well adjusted, played sports, pushed around, loved my friends and thought they were the world. My life was turned upside down during my 16th year on this sophisticated rock we call Earth -- that is another story. I would like to think that I was a typical young person doing the typical things -- whatever that means. However, there was no escaping that I have always thought differently than many others, enjoyed writing, debating, analyzing and not accepting things at face value. At the same time I have always carried my heart on my sleeve and have been burned for my transparency. My pursuit of becoming a surgeon was declared when I was not even old enough to have hair on the boys, yet I gunned to that finish line like it was the singular focus in my world, at times forgetting to savor the journey as opposed to yearning for the destination. I made it through med school, had a lot of fun along the way, only to realize that the art of surgery would take time to begin to understand and I had signed myself up for at least seven years of training in it. For kicks, or because I am a glutton for punishment, I added two more years to the tail-end in order to call myself a plastic surgeon and combine my love for the aesthetics of the world, art, passion, with medicine. In Utopia, my ideal practice would focus on the craft devoid of the business of medicine -- also another story. So here I am, professionally, trying to put the round peg of me the surgeon into a square hole that is the state of healthcare, all the while trying to maintain my artistic tendencies and desire to live life to the fullest. What really humbles me and at the end of the day is the most important, is my beautiful family. I was fortunate to meet my wife, my soul's counterpoint, when I was young and at a point when her love saved me from an existence of retreating. I could have backed away from the potential pain of loving and losing very easily becoming a self-centered, egotistical, douche; especially since so much I loved was ripped from me before. I would like to think that she has helped me to maintain my focus on being the best I can be in every phase of life. In addition, we have been blessed with two wonderfully curious and strong-willed children who love to play & take in the world around them. None of us are perfect; and, despite my Superman tendencies sharpened by the all or none journey through surgical training, I try hard to remember the simple purpose of life in my eyes. After all without purpose, what does one have? My purpose is in simplicity, the ultimate sophistication -- HAPPINESS, adding to the happiness of the ones I love and those around me, and living a life that tries to minimize detracting from the happiness of others. Simplicity is beauty, and beauty, simplicity. Nothing more. Nothing less -- Oscar Wilde. Health & Happiness. Always. Live Young.