By Dan Truttschel/Sports Correspondent
To say I had quite the spring would be a huge understatement.
But from something really bad came a lot of good, and a couple million reasons to count my blessings.
My life changed drastically in the early afternoon of April 13, when I came home to find my house just outside of Lake Geneva on fire.
That 45 seconds to a minute of pure terror is something I would never wish upon anyone – and I truly hope I never have to face that again.
But in the days, weeks and now months that have passed, I found out the true meaning of community and what it’s like to be a part of something special.
For the past 12 years now, I’ve been an assistant coach at three different high schools (Williams Bay, Big Foot and most recently Wilmot) in a number of varsity and lower-level sports.
When you coach, you try to also teach your athletes a bit about life’s ups and downs. It’s not always about wins and losses, playing time and championships.
Sometimes it goes way beyond that, and boy did I ever find that out in the immediate aftermath of my life-changing event.
The past two springs I’ve spent my time as the varsity assistant softball coach at Wilmot, and because the fire happened in the early stages of the 2014 season, that group of coaches, kids and parents were among the first to reach out to me.
One of my goals the day after my fire was to find a way to get to practice that afternoon. I had to be there to take my mind off what had happened just hours before.
And when I finally did make it to school that day, I was greeted with open arms by everyone in our program. That reception is something I will never forget, as I really felt like a member of the softball family.
That type of scene has played itself out many times over the past several weeks. I can’t even keep track of all the donations, the well wishes, the offerings of help that I have received through all this.
There were even two benefits planned, and the outpouring of support there was extremely overwhelming. Until you’ve been in that situation, it’s hard to understand what it’s like to have help and support coming from all angles.
It’s breath-taking, overwhelming and humbling all rolled into one, believe me.
And they came from my past stops along the coaching journey as well as the current. Even though people move on, we can still keep in touch and help when we’re needed.
At my time of need, there was so much help.
Fast forward to today and, while things aren’t quite back to normal, they’re getting there. The last few hoops to jump through are in place, and very soon, life should return to what it was pre-April 13.
But I’ll always have the memory of what my teams, my kids past and present, my coaches and what my towns did for me.
If my players learned anything from my situation, I hope they have a greater appreciation for what teams and communities can do when they really put their minds to it.
After that, nothing else really, truly matters.