NEW YORK, New York (27 Jan 2004) -- Four years ago, Dennis Langbein received a gift that would keep on giving, although he didn't know it at the time. His girlfriend, Olivia, now his wife, signed them up for scuba lessons. "It's something we always wanted to do but never got around to," he recalls. They took a course at Pan Aqua Diving in Manhattan and made their first open-water dive in Cozumel, Mexico, where they became certified. Busy as a trading assistant at the New York Stock Exchange, Langbein didn't have much time to pursue his exciting new hobby. That changed when he resigned from his job six days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Two months later the couple moved to Tulum, Mexico, where they had a house built on the beach. "We were going to do this anyway, but this [Sept. 11] helped speed it up." Langbein, who went diving for pleasure every day, began cave diving and became certified in it. "One of the world's largest cave systems is there," he says. "It's just beautiful." | | He noted, "It was like living on Gilligan's Island," referring to the absence of such conveniences as refrigeration. Although they loved it there, they moved back to Manhattan a year later to start a family and had a baby girl, Lily, earlier this month. Langbein, 43, needed a job, and Wall Street wasn't his first choice. He applied at Pan Aqua but had to wait at least six months for an opening. "When it wasn't panning out, I was worried." He joined Pan Aqua in July and says, "I'm learning the whole retail business now." And because he was a customer there, he's knowledgeable about the merchandise. Besides helping customers, Langbein juggles tasks from answering phones to stocking the company's five teaching facilities. At night he's an open-water instructor, which entails academic work as well as pool time. "It's the first time that I actually love what I do." SOURCE - Newsday |
