Good Night!

19 degrees
After all of us had dinner at the 99 Restaurant, Danny and I went to the Lowell Devils game (they lost, 3-2) with John and Thomas D. and Chris and Kyle H. ...a guys night out. It was a good game at the Tsongas Arena, but the best was yet to come. After spending the game surrounded by other Harrington Elementary school families. we all piled in to John's minivan to go home. It was getting late (9:30) and the first stop home was our house. All I remember hearing was "can we see the ice?!" and the three boys piled out of the car.

Boot Hockey
My first thought was, "the boys will walk around for a bit." Next thing I know, I have sticks, pucks, gloves, and the net out on the ice. The boys played boot hockey for over an hour while the old men sat in the mini van, in my driveway, five feet from the ice surface, drinking their beverage of choice (starts with Bud, ends with Light).

What I Envisioned and What Actually Happened
I thought the first use of the Millin Four-em would be the four Millins (naturally) gingerly skating around in some of "Wow, Dad actually pulled this off" moment. Instead, it was a moment of pure spontaneity - the element of the game of hockey that makes it so exciting for me - that christened the ice at the Millin Four-em. I was not out there when "my" ice was christened. Instead, I was in the back seat of a mini-van, with heater on full, as my son and his two buddies played hockey in their shoes, laughingly fought a fake fight (Kyle got 3rd man in), and slid across the ice with a youthfull bliss I can just vaguely recall. Instead of feeling the cold of 19 degrees, the boys were warmed by their hustle and seemingly endless energy. The old men pulled the young boys off the ice after 10:30, and they came off reluctantly.

Good Night
As I tucked Danny in and said "good night", he said to me, "Dad, that was so much fun!" And THAT, is what The Millin Four-em was meant to be all about.