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A two-hour car ride feels like 2 days when you have the same conversations about the weather and traffic, over and over. I have long mourned the loss of my mother as a friend and confidant. At 88, she is remarkably still mobile, but has been suffering from dementia for the past 8-10 years.

The moment the email came in, emotion overwhelmed me. Glowing in front of my face as I sat back wide-eyed on the couch in the dark in a pair of tired gym shorts, there was a note saying I was one of a handful of people nominated by my company’s leaders for a national trade journal’s “Rising Stars” award. What luck! Completely taken aback, you can probably imagine all the feelings racing through my head… things like desperation, hopelessness, panic, anger, and shame. Wait, what?

I grew up on the Sacandaga Lake in the Southern Adirondacks in upstate NY. As a young man, I was interested in outdoor pursuits and after seeing Biathlon at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid NY, I became addicted to the sport. Over the next 25 years I dedicated my life to pursuing the sport, a Winter Olympic event that combines cross-country skiing and shooting. With the support of my family, the US Biathlon Association, the US Army and the NY Army National Guard, I was able to enjoy a long career of international competition from 1985-2002. During that period I had the opportunity to represent the US in 3 Winter Olympic Games in 88, 92 and 94.