Monday, March 7, 2011

Slap Happy

The past few weeks have had a flurry of activity for some us and a few congratulations are in order. First we need to congratulate Gurney's younger sister who has been admitted to Brown's top notch theatrics program. With the program costing a little over a hundred thousand dollars, I am sure she will be a starving artist in no time. Next we need to recognize Sarge's accomplishment of winning a major Chili Cooking Competition. Well done to both of you!

And finally we have one more congratulations to get to, and it happens to be focus of today's subject, hockey. Hockey is a fun sport. You get to ride around on skates which is always a blast. Growing up I only really got to play in gym class. And we usually played in shoes, but occasionally those of us spoiled kids who had skates, by that point roller blades, got to play a little with them on if we brought them in. Gym class is about my only experience with the sport. In fact I often have to think twice about whether or not there is an 'e' in the word 'hockey.' So I guess you could say I am fond of the sport, but never really set aside the time to pursue it or watch it.

Until this weekend, when I got to go to my first game. Kelly, my road-trip buddy, is in a league, and her last game was this weekend. I had been wanting to go to a game since October, so this was my last chance. The rink reminded me of a boxing club like the kind you see 'Rocky'. Where everything is functional, but no one puts on airs so things are dirty, covered in sweat stains, and smells. I remember gagging at one point as I accidentally breathed through my mouth and got the smell on my tongue so it was like I was tasting it.



Hockey rinks are cold if you didn't already know. I suppose that makes sense, but as I was sitting there watching the game it hit home as I saw my breath floating away. The game itself was pretty incredible. Kelly is the goalie for her team, and she did a remarkable job. I was squealing a lot every time it looked like the opposing team was going to score. But she did really good, and one time she caught the puck right out of the air. And in the end her team won 4 - 3.




After this we went out to celebrate and I got to meet her friends. They are all over the age spectrum. One is a junior in college, while another is 62! One of her friends, who wasn't on the team, made me laugh. Kelly introduced us, she said "hello", then looked at Kelly and all matter of factly said, "He's cute", then she looked right at me and said, "You're cute." I think she thought Kelly and I were dating.

So congratulations to Gurney's sister, Sarge, and Kelly!

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