Life's Whirlwind Adventures

I swore on all things that I would not be a Hockey mom.  I mean I like hockey, I enjoy watching it, I even enjoy a friendly game of shinny from time to time, but to be a hockey mom, yeah that wasn't something I ever wanted to do. I remember how much time my Mom had to give of herself when my brother started playing hockey, and I feel that my sister and I missed out on doing some things because my brother had hockey.  Now this could be a misconception on my part, I mean I was young, like 11 or 12 when Nelson started but it was around that time that many of my extra curricular activities stopped as well.  Did the two events happen in conjunction or because of one I don't know. When my first child was born we really didn't have the funds or opportunities to get involved with hockey so we tried soccer.  I actually liked being a soccer mom, I enjoy the sport and I enjoyed taking my child to his games.  He did well in soccer and played until he was in grade 11....

It's been a fun rookie season of hockey!! And by Rookie season I mean for all of us, Lil Man was in his first year and he went from barely being able to skate, to keeping up with the big kids on his team, and I was a first time hockey mom. There were definitely things I did not enjoy (How come half our games were at 7 in Penhold???) but the thing I enjoyed the most was the most important thing for any sport, Lil Man's smile!! He loved it, and he never once complained about getting up early! Lil Man was seriously so proud of his hockey season. He wants to be a goalie, and he was able to be the goalie twice, both times his team won.  He participated in the skate-a-thon and did 30 laps, which is really impressive considering he could barely skate when he started this season.  He took some face offs, he started skating backwards, he learned to pass and he learned to be a good team mate! He's still distracted when playing and you can often find him hanging out b...

Ok I know that I said I hadn't wanted to become a hockey mom, I know I said it, and now here I am almost weekly posting about how I am a hockey mom and almost bragging about it!! The truth is I can't help it, I just can't help it!  I am so proud to see my Lil Man doing something that he has such passion in, that I can't not write about it or show videos and pictures of him doing what he loves!! in canskate lessons He started out the season barely being able to skate, he was, in his own words, "skating like a penguin".  He would just take baby steps on the ice and was a frequent faller.  He would 'skate' two steps and fall, then he'd get up and 'skate' two more steps and fall.  He always got back up though, he never cried, he never quit, he just kept on trying. (I'm sure I've said this before too) Last weekend while the team was practicing he was playing in the net with the goalie. I think he wants to be like his uncle Nels...

In my worst nightmares I was a hockey mom.  Up early to get to practices, giving up every weekend of the winter for games or tournaments.  Taking out second mortgages on my house to pay for equipment and hotels during tournaments.  Having to deal with the politics that hockey inevitable has; who makes what team sometimes regardless of ability and skill.  Seeing nepotism that I could do nothing to help avoid because I don't know the sport so I'd never be out coaching, assistant coaching or anything like that.  So being a hockey mom was never something I was going to do, but I realized having boys I might fall into this label. I enrolled my kids in soccer, soccer I understood.  I didn't play it growing up, but I played in University and I enjoyed it.  Chandler started playing soccer when we moved to Red Deer, he really enjoyed it. It was a youth rec league so it wasn't highly competitive but they still played games, they still won medals, and most im...