Growing up, my dream was clear. With absolute confidence, I not only knew that I’d play professional baseball, but that I’d play for my hometown St. Louis Cardinals. It was a certainty.

Until that dream, and the inevitability of obtaining it, was extinguished upon my waking up from one of more than a dozen surgeries after being burned at age nine. With great sadness, my dad shared that during the surgery the doctors were forced to amputate my fingers in order to save my life.

As we journey professionally and personally, we will never understand the miracle of life fully.

Until we allow the unexpected to happen.