Looking back. Yesteryear ...

These are the ski pants paramedics cut off my mangled legs after I broke them in multiple places after a day of carving sick powder.

I keep them on the wall of my room back home. They remind me how fleeting life really is.

One moment I was flying through luscious, deep powder – fatigued, content, watching my goggles steam up, feeling windburn on my face.

The next – I'm laying in the snow, my legs a quivering mass of crumpled red jelly – screaming in pain at the sky above, hoping I'll live.

Experience is the key word here – some live, some break themselves, some learn life lessons on their own.

Others wait for instruction.

On the cusp of the new year I think it's good to reflect on living life to the fullest – even if it kills you.

I could be lying in the snow, bleeding to death. Yet I'm here, with my family, and thankful for my blessings.

All things considered, it's been a good year ...