hockey was my disney

(left to right: 5yo kid who has skated before , brady, girl, aiden, kid's twin who has not skated before, really big kid)




the boys have developed an interest in ice hockey. kinda hard not to when they've had ny ranger hockey jerseys in every size since 24mo., their dog's namesake is a retired goalie/stanley cup winner and their dad made them able to sleep through anything from seasons of yelling at the tv from the next room over. over the summer, brady requested on several occassions for brett to turn the cul-de-sac into a rink. when they have to come inside, they put socks on for the sole purpose to skate on the wood floors. so after we had a family movie night a few months back of which The Mighty Ducks was the feature film, brett was supposing he could be on the brink of one of his dreams.

what's that family that has 3 boys all of whom play professional ice hockey? that's the ultimate dream. hockey has always been one of brett's passions. he played in elementary school, college, and in his adult life. he is a really awesome skater obviously but no, i'm in awe when i see him skate or rollerblade for that matter. those kinds of talents can really freak a not for winter activities person.

up until about 2 months ago i was like no way, no how about the skating/hockey thing. i have heard way too many times enough reasons to keep me away from the sport of hockey. the ridiculous hours for ice time, the ridiculous money for equipment, and the ridiculousness of freezing your ass off. i was totally leaving this whole thing in brett's hands and washing mine of it. hockey would not be in my M.O.

but yeah, and i swear if we ever go to disney you'll then know i've completely given up on all my 'i'll nevers' but you see, the kids had this interest, brett had this sparkle, damn it, i have this heart and what little these boys haven't robbed me of my estrogen. all deals to myself were off. we signed them up to learn to skate. i realize you shouldn't have to have lessons to do this but it seemed like a good idea at the time. like the "we'll try it and see how it goes" kind of thing. sometimes those things pleasantly surprise.

about 6 wks ago the day had come, brett tried to put off all late afternoon jobs so he could come with us. i tried to get brady down for a nap so he'd stay with us. i reminded aiden today was skating when i kissed him off to school, i drew him playing hockey on a sticky note and stuck it in his lunchbox. afterschool, i had to go up into the attic for the winter clothes of which they donned turtlenecks, thick sweats and gloves and were excited. aiden didn't say one word in the 20ish minute carride (highly unusual for him) from nerves. we were there. and although the parking lot looked quite bare, we were anxiously early for our initial lesson.

the lights off should have been the next sign for us but no, we walked up to the desk and announced our arrival to which we heard the nice little lady respond "it starts in 2 weeks".

FFFfffffffff. that's the sound of the air coming out of all of our overinflated balloons. like i told brett, this is not typical for me. i do not do things like this. we made it up to the kids with a playground romp, pizza out and a 'well, at least now you know a little about what to expect' before heading home. later i saw in an email with the director how she had mistakenly told me the wrong week-aha!

so. 2 weeks later we headed out quite the same as 2 wks prior. brett put off all calls. i drew another picture and reminded. aiden was quiet for his 2nd carride in history. we again pulled up to a near empty parking lot which is when i proclaimed to my family "if i am wrong again, commit me".

they laced up. got on the ice. did their thing for 30 minutes while brett and i tried our best to not be seen. possibly scared children seeing their mommy and daddy is usually a recipe for disaster. we also kept exchanging gleeful smiles, thumbs ups, and pointing to either A&B "do you see him?". aiden and brady both came off the ice and said "THAT was awesome!"

it could not have gone any better.

4 weeks later, brady's not ready for the nhl anytime soon and while aiden loves it, he says he doesn't want to (get hurt) play hockey. I tell him he doesn't have to. i'd be happy if the least they get out of this is to be able to skate and kick around outside on the ice with friends once in a while when they're older. it has it's possibilities. as does disney.