Ryan smiled through the entire experience. I could see his smile right through his facemask in pictures I took from 100 feet away. My wife and I fought back tears. My parents sat through bitter cold and wind for four hours to watch him play for a few minutes each intermission. I think even his […]
Read more "A Smile You Can See Through His Mask"Ryan plays in a street-hockey league in the summer. He’s back with the same coach that led the team to the championship last year, and they’re off to an undefeated start. There’s just one problem: their regular goalie is going to miss a game this week. Ryan immediately volunteered to fill in. It is a […]
Read more "Anything For the Team"A Sports Illustrated writer, inspired by a family’s celebratory hockey photo, asks his 84,000 Twitter followers a simple question: How many of you have a photo of the best moment of your life? How many of you have a photograph of the single best moment of your life? If so, what a gift. (HT: @sports_casters […]
Read more "From a Tweet to the Pages of SI"It was a small gesture — but it meant so much. Last night was the first game of Ryan’s street-hockey season. He’s back with the same coach that led them to the championship last season, and very excited. When I think back to how far we’ve come since the first year he went out for […]
Read more "Waiting For a Friend"Summer is not my favorite time of year. I hate the heat and humidity of the northeast. I hate there’s no hockey or football to watch or care about daily. And as I’m sure many special-needs parents can relate, the unstructured summer schedule is not always easy for Ryan — or for us. But I […]
Read more "Boys Night at the Rink"
Pucks and Puzzle Pieces 