Happy Columbus Day!

Allow me to be the first to wish you a happy Columbus Day, a celebration of the life and accomplishments of the great Christopher Columbus. Cristoforo Colombo was born around this date in 1451 in Genoa, Italy — a city which I have visited and which is not far from the birthplace of my great-great-grandparents (the small towns of Cortemilia and Piana Crixia). Columbus is credited with “discovering” America in 1492, although he certainly wasn’t the first person to set foot in the New World. Still, he was a preeminent explorer and risk-taker, and is one of my all-time heroes.