Memory List

- The first memory that comes to mind is playing roller hockey through out elementary school. I came up with a lot of sports related memories, but this one seemed to stand out to me. Everyday after school we used to round up a couple people and play hockey on roller blades for hours. We would always play in the driveway of my friend Jimmy, who lived directly behind me. Jimmy was a year younger than me and a smaller kid, but extremely athletic. He was the only one out of us who had any really ice hockey experience. Usually we would play 2 on 2, and I would team up with him. Our opponents were always the same. My younger brother Sean, who was really big for his age and also very athletic. However, he was always kept down by his partner. The kids name was Eric, and from what I remember he was not much of an athlete. We used to have to drag him out of his house on a daily basis and make him play with us. As you can imagine Jimmy and I used to crush them day in and day out. Even though the games were extremely lopsided they were always a ton of fun. This was a big part of my early childhood, and something that I will never forget.

- Another memory I had was going to upstate New York for some kind of family reunion. It was at my Uncle Jack's house which sits on huge piece of land with a large pond. I remember how different that area was from what I was used to. He talked about bears and coyotes and how you could here them at night. He drove us around on his tractor which my brothers and I thought was so cool for some reason. One memory from that trip stands out above the rest. My brother, Sean, was running around the yard when all of a sudden he started freaking out and crying. Apparently he had stepped on a yellow jackets and was being swarmed by their stingers. The next thing I remember is my dad scooping him up and sprinting to the pond. He hurdled Sean in with him in order to make the bees quit their attack. This might be the first time that I can remember being legitimately scared for either of my brothers. This is probably why it sticks out to me.

- A more recent memory is of something that happened nearly a year ago. I was at a place called the Ice-o-Plex playing an indoor lacrosse game. These games are usually a joke and generally used for conditioning and bettering your stick skills. But this game was against our arch rival, Bethel Park, so the intensity was kicked up a notch. I can remember sitting in the box getting ready to sub in when one of my friends came up to me and asked if he could go in for me. I told him no and that I wanted to do this. To this day I wish I would have let him take my spot. By the time I got subbed back in, there was only around two minutes left. The shift was going great until about 15 seconds remaining on the clock. One of Bethel's best players picked up a ground ball in our corner, and I went in for a hit. The problem was so did a couple other players and we all collided at the same time. I remember the most awkward feel in my knee. I didn't even fall down but something wrong took place down in my leg. I had messed up my knee a couple times before, but I had never experienced that. It didn't hurt but I couldn't walk right. I was instantly filled with a mix of anger and some sadness and I threw my stick and gloves down and limped away. It tuned out that I tore my ACL and had to miss my senior year. This was the worst experience of my life, and something that I still hate to think about today.