After graduating from Wentworth Institute I was fortunate enough to quickly land a career job and was thinking, "my life is pretty good." Later in my career, I moved around, got promoted, and began making good money. At that time I'm thinking, "my life is great." However, when I found myself skidding off an icy mountainous road knowing that the impact is going to be life changing if not life ending, I realized none of that really mattered.

As I sat in the passenger seat of my friend Harry's Jeep Grand Cherokee, just moments before it crashed on New York State Route 73 outside of Lake Placid, that April day in 2001, the things that had once seemed so important to me no longer mattered. We had a long drive ahead of us and our plan was to get home at a decent hour so we could get up for work on Monday morning; that didn't matter anymore. We didn't play well and went home empty handed in the hockey tournament, that certainly didn't matter anymore either. What mattered was we're barreling down a very steep and curvy incline and the jeep's tires are not gripping the road. I didn't want to die.

After the impact of the crash, I was surprised that I was conscious and ALIVE. It was a true miracle that we all didn't die on the road that day. As I was lying on the side of the mountain where the only feeling in my entire body was the rain drops hitting my cheeks. I thought, "wow, I'm alive but I won't ever be able to hold my kids again." That thought alone was so vivid. I had an out of body experience - I could see myself walking across the Lake Placid Olympic Center parking lot with my hockey bag over my shoulder heading towards the Jeep. These would be the last foot steps I will ever take. No more playing hockey, no more pitching at M Street Park - I'm paralyzed damn it!!

The accident, the recovery process, and the effect it all had on my life is an experience that has changed me forever. It gave me a tremendous appreciation for just how precious life is and gave me an immense amount of thankfulness for my spine surgeon, John Sledge, and all of the hospital staff who took care of me that day and the days and months that followed. While recovering from my injuries (fractured neck), I realized that I learned a few lessons from the ordeal.

The first lesson was that EVERYTHING in your life can change in an instant. Many of us have a bucket list of the things we want to do in our life but few actually go out and do them. I vowed to change this in my life. With this second chance I was so full of gratitude and was so happy to be alive. I sat there thinking about all the people I wanted to reach out to but hadn't previously, all the fences I wanted to mend, all the experiences I wanted to enjoy but never did. I thought, from now on I'm going to tell my friends and family just what they mean to me. I will book trips...cruises to be exact. I now had this sense of urgency to really live life, travel, and experience everything the world had to offer. I will no longer sit around and wait for an invite. That sense of urgency and purpose changed me.

I thought about my relationships with my friends, with people, and with my daughters. As I reflected on that, the second lesson was that I decided I would eliminate negative energy and/or people from my life. I want to surround myself with happy people and those who made me feel good.

A few months later with the fog of the accident beginning to wear off and my injuries starting to heal, I found myself on that cruise with my youngest daughter, Lilly. We were enjoying some quiet time as I was watching her sketch out on the balcony. In that moment I had time to reflect on my life and everything that had happened to me. Tears began to fill my eyes. I realized at that point that the ONLY thing that really matters is to be a great dad.

Thankfully, I was given the gift of a miracle, of not dying or becoming completely disabled that day in New York. I was able to recover fully and make it back to Lake Placid and the softball field at M Street. The lessons learned through the ordeal has changed me. If you're still reading this then do yourself some good and take a moment and imagine your own life if the same thing happened to you. Would you change anything about the current way you live? More than anything, are you being the absolute best dad/person you can be?

In Monday's middle game, Southside B got seven good innings from pitcher Pete Drummey while coasting to a 11-4 win over the Banshee (3-2). The victory was an important one in the standings as it keeps Southside in the top four and draws them even at 3-3. Rob Lerro (2 hits, home run, 2 RBI), Ed Murphy (2 hits), Zac Manning (2 hits), and Charlie Maginnis (2 hits) were the hitting stars for Southside.

The late game had the red hot Backyard Betty's (6-1) taking on the winless DataDawgs (0-4). The Dawgs came out swinging in this one as they jumped out to a 5-0 lead on home runs by Scott Patterson (2 hits, HR, 2 RBI) and Andrew Murphy. However, from that point on it was all Betty's as they answered with six runs in the second, eight in the third, and closed it out with more runs in the third, 17-5. Tim Stoops (3 hits, HR, 6 RBI), Brett Handell (2 hits, HR, 4 RBI), Nick Sours (3 hits), and Steve Dazzo (3 hits) provided the big hits for Betty's while pitcher Handell settled down after the first two frames and pitched well enough to earn the win.

Last week I wrote about Telegraph Hill and stated that I felt they could go undefeated through the regular season. Well, the Playwright Shamrocks (2-4) quickly ended that prediction when they upset the Hill squad on Tuesday. The Hill's offense quickly went to work in the top of the first inning and plated a run for a 1-0 lead. Most thought, "here we go again." But the Shamrocks answered in the home half of the inning when Matt Aucoin and Antonio Corbia hit back to back home runs, 3-1. Hill tied it in the fourth but Shamrock again answered with a pair of runs, 5-3. Playwright was now feeling good about themselves and added to their lead with another pair of runs in the fifth, 7-3. However, Telegraph wasn't done scoring and answered the bell in the sixth when Luke Serra (3 RBI) cleared the bases to tie the game, 7-7. Back and forth it went, as Shamrock answered the call in the home half of the inning with another pair of runs when pitcher Sean Higgins launched a home run, 9-7. Telegraph (6-1) mounted another rally in the seventh and had bases loaded with just one out and the top of the order up. Higgins dug down deep and got a ground out and a line out to end the rally and end Telegraph's six game winning streak.

The late game saw the Silkworms (1-1) break into the win column with an impressive showing over the Mitchell Report. The Worms showed they meant business as they plated four runs in the first and followed up with an eight run second inning. From that point on they coasted the rest of the way and won handily, 16-4. Corey Livingston (3 hits, home run, 3 RBI) and Owen Lynch (3 hits) paced the offense while Livingston also worked his way through five strong innings (scattered eight hits and four runs) on the mound to earn the victory. Kyle Ferguson (2 hits, home run) and Cody Mercer (2 hits, 2 RBI) led the way for the (1-5) Mitchell Report.

Friday's middle game saw the Bombers pitcher Tom Powers shut down (0-13) the top half of the Pastoral batting order which gave his lineup time to get their bats warmed up. Once they warmed up they didn't cool off as the team banged out twenty-two hits on their way to a 16-6 victory. Chris Joyce (5 hits, 2 doubles, homerun, 4 RBI), Powers (4 hits), Dan McKenna (3 hits, double, homerun, 6 RBI), Alex Hertz (3 hits), and John Burns (3 hits) gave the Bombers (3-2) plenty of support while Josh Donohue (3 hits, double) was the lone hitting star for Pastoral (2-3).

The week closed with the Chiefs and the Dorchester Brew Crew involved in a slugfest as they combined for over forty hits while scoring thirty-four runs. The Brew Crew held pace early as they led 5-3 after two innings of play. But the Chiefs (2-2-1) were just warming up and began plating runs at will - six runs in the third inning, three in the fourth, and five more in the seventh all led to a 23-11 win. Dylan Warfield (3 hits, homerun, 6 RBI), Corey Brooks (3 hits), and Billy Hutchinson (3 hits, 4 RBI) provided a good chunk of the offense while Bill Murphy was a perfect 4-4 for the Brew Crew (0-5).