My Story

What changed my life forever and what I chose to do with that change

In March 2022, my life changed in an instant. One moment everything felt normal, and the next nothing did. In the chaos that followed, I was forced into a reality I never asked for and a healing journey I never imagined I would walk.

What followed was not a clean or quick recovery. It was messy. Painful. Disorienting. It became a long road of physical pain, emotional unraveling, identity loss, and slow rebuilding. I had to learn who I was when the life I had built no longer existed in the same way.

Before that day, I spent my life in education, serving as a teacher, coach, assistant principal, and athletic director. Leadership was my identity. Schools were my world. Students were my purpose.

After the shooting, everything changed. My relationship with work changed. My relationship with leadership changed. My understanding of rest, boundaries, family, and faith deepened in ways I never expected.

I wrote One Step at a Time because too many people suffer in silence after life changes in an instant. Trauma looks different for all of us. Sometimes it is sudden. Sometimes it is slow. But the isolation that follows often feels the same.

This book is not about reliving pain. It is about how we move forward when we feel stuck, lost, or unsure if the life we once knew can ever return.

Today, I share my story through writing, speaking, and community conversations. Not because I have everything figured out, but because I know what it feels like to feel lost. I believe deeply in the power of honest stories. When one person is brave enough to tell the truth, it gives others permission to breathe again.

This is the short version. The full story lives in the pages of One Step at a Time.