God, Grace & The Grit In Between

I know we hear all of the time, "life is short" or "tell the ones you love that you care" etc, but I beg that it doesn't take a tragedy for us to understand the fragility and importance of life and love. We hear all too often about discovering love through pain. Yesterday's events were earth-shattering for the town of Stillwater, the University of Oklahoma State, and for the state of Oklahoma. Stillwater is a fairly quiet town. My family is from here. My mother grew up here, went to HS down the road, then went on to graduate from OSU along with 98% of my family. This town means so much to our family. The people mean so much. My memories are a safe town. A place where we don't lock our doors, we walk around the neighborhood, and we go to every OSU sporting event. No matter their record that year. We walk around, smiling and waving and shouting "Go Pokes!" That's what I grew up with. Tradition, hospitality, loyalty, and a love for this scho...

Year one. I just wrapped up my first rookie year in the league. What a wild ride it's been. Lots of sweat, some blood, and maybe even more tears haha! I'm confident enough to admit to that though. It's been the most challenging year of my career. I have learned so much more about myself as a player, a competitor, and about the game in this short season than I thought I would. I still wake up and can't believe I get to play a game, yes a game for my job. It's what I dreamed of as a kid! And hopefully I'll continue to live out that dream and reach other goals I've set for myself. I'm not sure what comes next. But I want to share what I leave this season having learned.  There are no shortcuts on the road to success.      I could write a novel on this. (Maybe one day) I've been told this repeatedly my entire life. My parents were athletes and coaches, and the "hard work beats talent" mentality was ingrained in me and my siblings at a youn...