Thanksrinking

Anticipation is a good thing. It gives one hope and a feeling that better things will come. And when you get what you want, it feels good. However, sometimes it's the unexpected that gives one true satisfaction. Who doesn't love a pleasant surprise?

The kids went to bed at 9:30. I went out to the Four-em at 10:00 figuring it would be good to get a skate in before the snow started to fall. So I put the Eastons on in the basement, put the MP3 player in my ears, opened the bulkhead, and walked out to the Four-em...

....just as it started to snow. But it mattered not. Pucks hit the net, pucks missed the net, and pucks went ricocheting off the boards (Scott K. was the first person I remember to use the word 'ricochet'. I was about 8 yrs. old and it was after a church supper in Rowley. We were up in the hallway where the Sunday School classrooms were and we were throwing a super ball down the hall to each other. Scott said 'did you see how the ball ricochets off the wall?'...Scott was a really smart kid, but apparently wound up having drug 'issues'...but I digress).

I skated hard and thought harder:

I thought about how lucky I am to have a 'hockey widow' for a wife. Hockey used to be a dirty word. I find myself surprised that she not only embraces the fact that I love and need the game, but she has encouraged our son to feed his own hockey addiction...and I would have to say that she has a touch of the 'hockey fever' herself.

I thought about, as I sat on my homemade bench w/ a Bud Light, how lucky we are to be surrounded by neighbors who are more than just 'people who live next door to us.' Bernie and June, Bob and Ellen, Karen and Lorraine, and Jim and Jo make this a great place to live.

I thought about how, as a kid, I wanted more and more hockey in my life. As you can tell by our basement (the 'dark side'), I now have it. (click on picture to really see the mess).





I thought about how frustrated I was with the weather this winter and how it has made for less than ideal backyard rink conditions..and as I skated around the Four-em in the falling snow, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was happy with what I had; crap ice and all.

Not a bad way to end the year. Surprise, surprise.