NAME & GRADUATION YEAR:
Herd Alan Midkiff '97
Major/Minor:
Finance
WHO YOU ARE?
I am a traveler through life.
Like most young people when they graduate from college, I set out from TCU ready to conquer the world and to fill in the details of the plan I had for my life. For me, it was just a matter of following the map. However, what the map did not show were the unexpected obstacles and detours that inevitably come as we journey through life.
After navigating several large detours and roadblocks over the years, the map is safely put away, and I now just follow the road to wherever it leads.
WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT SINCE GRADUATION?
Recently, I have tried my hand at becoming a writer and my first book, Our Beating Heart, was published this past May. The book is a tribute to my late wife, Shannon, and it chronicles our 18-year journey together and how we dealt with the impact of her being diagnosed with congestive heart failure in 2003 when she was only 32 years old.
Her diagnosis was one of the detours that was not on my original map, and the book follows us through the ups and downs that occur anytime people are forced into living Option B.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT BEING A TCU ALUMNUS?
I love coming back to campus and meeting students. My company, JTaylor, presents regularly to TCU business school students and it is great to see how the campus has grown and changed since I was there and to meet and talk to students who are just beginning their journeys through life.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MEMORY WHILE AT TCU?
During my senior year I discovered the Oui lounge on Bluebonnet Circle. The Oui was a (very) smoky little bar that was a TCU favorite. It had the best jukebox, full of Willie, Waylon and Jerry Jeff, and my friends and I would go there on Thursday nights and shoot pool.
WHERE CAN YOU BE FOUND ON A SATURDAY AFTERNOON?
I will probably be at a park or a birthday party with my 6-year-old daughter. And of course, during the fall you will find both of us at a TCU football game when the Frogs are playing at home.
WHERE CAN WE FIND, FOLLOW AND FRIEND YOU?
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hamidkiffwriter
Book website: http://www.ourbeatinghearts.com/
Email: mailto:hamidkiff(at)ourbeatinghearts.com