Hockey

I would have posted this much sooner had a I not forgotten my password. SOOO, my boys just finished 3 weeks of hockey school. To say it wasn't exhausting (for ME) would be a lie! Mel took the first 2 off so that he could dress them and help me with them (since I was adamant that I was NOT going to be a hockey mom). The 3rd time was me on my own. I was late, hungry and sweating like crazy when I attempted to dress them. Anyone with young kids will know right now the tremendous amount of patience this took me!!!! Especially when my oldest son kept pretending to fall asleep and when he'd "wake up" he kept saying that he wished his dad was home cuz "he knows what he's doing". OMG, are you kidding me???? Yes, I took offence to that, but considering my mental state, I figure I managed pretty well by just using my eye contact to tackle that comment.
So I got them to the rink and had them all geared up and on the ice with 5 minutes to spare! HA! I even beat my "pro" hubby at that one! Oh, and the skates were actually on the right feet! Yay me!
We managed to get through each class without incident, and to be honest, I really did enjoy watching my boys out there with all their gear and stuff! Did I mention that they even had little mouthguards?? LMAO!!!
The last class was an acutal game. Two 20 minute periods and One 6 minute. They changed shifts every 2 minutes and they even had assigned positions!!! It was all going so well, and Ry was just having a blast, he's just so good at it! He even came close to scoring! So all of a sudden, Ry falls and this other kid falls too. Ry's stick gets caught under this kid's jersey and Ry was trying to pull it out. I could see the kid getting pissed off and frustrated, and I honestly don't think Ry even picked up on it. So finally the stick comes free and the kid stands up and just slashes the back of Ry's knees with his stick!! OMG, I was just in shock. Then I got really angry and I could feel the fire in my tummy. As a mom, it's one of the toughest things to have to witness, your child getting hurt, and I just felt so helpless. I heard the people in the stands behind me chuckle about it, as though it was quite acceptable that 5 and 6 and 7 year olds are already this violent! IT'S JUST A GAME I wanted to shout...in fact I think I did say that out loud. Thank goodness I was stuck between two of my girlfriends who managed to diffuse me before I got too excited over it. But STILL. When this kid got off the ice, he got high-fived, can you believe it? None of the coaches on the ice saw anything happen either which was pretty disturbing.
So I was talking to my little brother who is 23 and I told him about it. He made me realize that this stuff is going to happen all their lives, whether it be in hockey or just on the playground and that I have to let them experience a certain amount of it. Ok, ok, ok. I only know one way to parent, and that's with the paws of Mama Bear firmly planted on my babies making sure they are protected. Wake up call for me!
So I will keep on being a hockey mom and I'm going to try really hard to let my boys experience the game without imposing my feelings and emotions onto them. I will deal with issues as they arise and at the end of the night, I will make sure to say my prayers to which will hopefully give me the necessary faith, wisdom and strengh to get me through the season!!! Day by day. Game by game.

Purging

So I spent most of my day on Sunday purging my basement. Wow what a job. I figure that I had better get a move on it before they switch the dumpsters and I'm stuck with this stuff for another 6+ months. I ventured down there, armed with a box of heavy duty, extra large garbage bags, a gi-normus cup of coffee and all the sanity that I could muster up. Sigh. So began my journey.... I take this journey about every 6 months, honestly. Still I surface with an overstuffed garbage bag of trash and yet another one of donatables. It's ridiculous, actually. I am saddened that so much money is wasted on toys that just get piled, one on top of another, until my children are so overstimulated that they don't even go down there! (I can only assume that is the reason, anyway!). So, after mourning the loss of hundreds of dollars, I've decided that my children DO NOT need this much crap! I continued my purging, and am still going at it. So far, I have 2 extra large garbage bags of trash, and 2 extra large garbage bags of toys that looked like they might be a good idea at the time of purchase. (Just so I don't get some kind of complex, the trash consists of paper, paper, paper from endless amounts of my children's doodling, toys that have lost parts, etc. as they are, under no circumstance, allowed food or beverage down there!)
So now what do I do with the assortment of goods that won't end up in the trash bin? Do we donate? Freecycle? My boys want to have a yard sale! Right! I can't see that one actually happening! My thought is that we will likely donate it to VV, and this Christmas, along with the shoeboxes that we stuff, and the names that the boys choose off of the Christmas tree for those who will otherwise have no gift under the tree, they are, again going to go through their stuff and donate. Don't even get me started on the commercialism of Christmas!
I will keep you posted and let you know where I end up...wish me Godspeed gettin out of this journey!