AS TOLD TO BC PIRES

My name is Christopher George and I don’t know why I have to do everything the hard way.

There is definitely a more direct route to everything I’ve done than the one I’ve taken.

My mom lives in Maraval and I came back to Port of Spain when I was around 16 years old, but I would say I am a Santa Cruz boy.

I grew up on Jabari Hill, a residential area, with my younger brother, Matthew, eating Julie mangoes and plums.

Matthew, 18 months my junior, was one year behind me in everything we did: Blackman’s Private School, Queen’s Royal College.

We separated when he did an MBA in Florida and I did chemical engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology.

Matthew is a risk analyst for a big multinational. He was always good with financial strategy, even as a boy. We used to call him Money George.

We didn’t have any money at that age but, somehow, he had a receipt book.

I’d say, “Matthew, I’m hungry.”

And he’d say, “I’ll get you some cereal, Chris, but how much are you paying me for it in the future?”

He used to give me $5 receipts for everything he did for me.

Dealing with my ending of my relationship of maybe five years with my ex-wife over the last two years has been difficult.

But I’m cautiously optimistic about my relationship with Renee, a very energetic piece of my life over the last eight months.

I didn’t appear for myself in my own divorce. It’s that old saying about an attorney who appears for himself having a fool for a client.

I believe in God and I think my faith has been tested.

I went through this roller-coaster ride over my lifetime. Traumatic experiences – losing my father, losing a marriage I thought was important – have actually strengthened my faith.

If BC Pires points out that there were Jews in Auschwitz who believed in God until their last moment in the gas chamber, I reply, “And you had to admire them!”

There’s this juxtaposition with respect to hope and virtue.

I felt a bit of an obligation to do engineering. My dad was critical of himself for doing physics, not mechanical engineering at university. He also wanted to work for an energy multinational.

So it was, like, “Chris, you’re going to finish this off.” I had to achieve my dad’s goals.And I think I was indoctrinated because, when you do well at math, add math, biology, physics, chemistry, engineering is the natural inclination.

I qualified in 2006, became a chartered engineer in 2011, and worked as an engineer for about nine years and did well. I was sent as an expat to Houston, Texas and in 2013 to Aberdeen, Scotland.

I did feel extremely valued. But there was always something else I wanted to do.

My sports journey started in 1994 when I was nine at the Caribbean Islands Swimming Championship in Jamaica.

My friend (national swimmer) George Bovell was in the same team. But I came fourth and missed an individual medal.

I felt I was

almost good enough to achieve the excellence I craved at sports.

I was competitive in regional swimming but water polo was more suited to my perso