I coached football in Maine before picking it up again last season at Manitou Springs High School. The game suits the way my mind works, pattern recognition, anticipating what's coming two plays ahead, and reading a situation before it develops. Sharing that with kids was one of the more satisfying things I've done outside of work.

One memory that has nothing to do with football: the night we were shutting off the field lights and the Northern Lights appeared overhead. We all just stopped. Nobody wanted to leave. 

I'm stepping back from coaching this year to focus on my work and family.

Blueprint is a ministry that sends youth groups into the community to do basic home repairs for owners who can't afford them. Our church sent the kids for a week one summer, and I helped lead the effort. The work itself was straightforward: painting, patching, fixing what was worn down. But what stayed with me was watching the kids process what they were seeing. For many of them, it was the first time they had been inside a home struggling, and the realization that it wasn't far from their own neighborhoods hit them differently than any classroom lesson could. That week did more for their perspective than I think any of us anticipated going in.