Enter the Time Machine
If you know, you know. The internet of 1997 complete with visitor counter, le’ swoon!
The First Website I Ever Built (Yes, It Involved Wine Barrels and Fish)
Dear Diary,
As I was putting together the Azure Vault website, a memory hit me out of the blue: my very first website, built way back in 1997. Yes, 1997— I was 15 years old, it was when dial-up internet sounded like a robot screaming at you, the little AOL guy would announce “You Got Mail,” and websites looked like they were designed by a drunk toddler.
The site was a family project: my dad, my brother, and me, huddled around a clunky desktop, creating a digital ode to wine barrel fish ponds. (Yes, you read that right. Wine. Barrel. Fish. Ponds.) It was equal parts bizarre and brilliant, a true testament to the early internet’s wild west vibes.
Looking back, it’s a trip to see how my destiny was already swirling and whirling around me, even then. Technology, plants, art, writing, digital storytelling—it was all there, waiting to be woven together. That first website wasn’t just a project; it was a glimpse into the alchemy that would become my life’s work.
But here’s the thing: I’ve been playing with this vision for years. Coaching, design, music, supporting other entrepreneurs—I’ve made multiple websites and attempts at crafting this vision, and none of them really felt like it. Until now. This feels sticky. This feels right.
And that’s the thing about being an alchemist: sometimes, you have to go into the lab and play around with the elements and ingredients for a while. It’s easy to get disheartened and think, Well, that was a failed experiment. I should just quit. I obviously don’t know what I’m doing.
But have you ever heard the story about Thomas Edison inventing the lightbulb? He famously rebuffed, “I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
Yeah, dude. Me too. Meeeee too.
What’s important is to look back and see the common threads that were always there, quietly guiding you.
For me, those threads have always been Beauty. Women. Art. The written word. Storytelling. Championing people who have yet to love themselves, fully. Seeing the big vision. Clickity-clacking on computers. Music. Plants. Systems. Magic.
So here’s to wine barrel fish ponds, time-travel, dial-up dreams, and the messy, magical beginnings that shape us. Here’s to the experiments that didn’t work—and the ones that finally did. Because sometimes, your future is already circling you; you just have to catch up to it.
Peace out Diary!
k.e.