Friday, December 30, 2011

Giving Thanks

It's that time of year, time to think back and reflect on 2011, time to search for lessons both good and bad, reevaluate the progress or lack thereof you may have made, and give thanks for all our blessings.

2011 goes down in history as probably the best year of my life. I have had the good fortune of experiencing some of the happiest days and been the recipient of some wonderful luck. It's been a great ride and I can only hope to have half the year in 2012 that I've had this year.

Over the past few years I've been extremely fortunate to get to live and work in California at Stanford University. Not only is Stanford one of the truly incredible universities in the world both academically and athletically, but the people I got to spend most of my time with are some of the nicest, smartest, and hardest working people in my profession. I was very lucky to get to be a part of the Stanford Sports Performance Team, and I am very thankful for everything over the past few years.

I was invited on some amazing journeys this past year at Stanford, getting to experience another Final Four  and then traveling to China with the Women's Volleyball team. I was able to learn from some of the best in the field while at Stanford, and made many friends along the way.

There was not much that could pull me away from Stanford, but the stars seemed to align and I was again fortunate enough to be in the right place and right time to begin a new chapter of my career as Director of Sports Performance at UMass Lowell. Not only did I get the chance to get back into hockey, but I get to do it in Hockey East. On top of that, I get to live in Boston which is a dream come true for myself and my beautiful wife, Erica, and I get the opportunity to develop my own program as the first Director in school's history.

Speaking of wife, I had the single best day of my life in 2011 as Erica said "I do!" last summer! I can't express how lucky I am to have a wife as wonderful as she is. Erica truly is the only woman who could put up and love a knucklehead like me, and I am thankful everyday she didn't smarten up before the wedding!

In addition to all of that, I have gotten to spend lots of time with my friends and family, got to see my Grandmother this Christmas, and pretty much have been having a great time over the last 12 months.

If I have learned anything this year, its that everything happens for a reason. Its corny and I can't explain it, but the way things have fallen into place is just ridiculous. If you work hard and treat people well, good things tend to happen. I will certainly try to keep that in mind as I move into 2012.

It's been a great ride 2011, thanks for all the memories!

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