Hockey is the Coolest Game Around

Sunday, Feb. 28, we watched the USA Hockey team take it to Canada -- all the way into overtime. Non-hockey fans don't realize what a big deal that was. USA Hockey fans only wish Sid the Kid had held out just a few more minutes. Had this been a tournament with different scoring systems, the US may have won that Gold Medal. In typical tournament play, a win gives you a point, a loss gets you nothing, but a win in overtime gets you two points and a loss in overtime gets you one. Given that math, the fact that we beat Canada once (they are still stinging from that) and then tied it to go into Overtime says to me it was really a draw. Way to go USA!

Of course, the reality is that all the players in the Olympic Gold Medal game were NHL players who spend most of their time here in the U.S. Sydney Crosby who scored the winning goal for Canada plays for Pittsburgh, Brendan Morrow plays here in Dallas, I could go on and on.

Hockey may be Canada's game, but for those of us who love it, we're sure glad it's big here in the U.S. too.

Sunday, just minutes -- literally -- after the US won the silver medal, my son and his team stepped onto the ice to go for their own win. It was Senior Recognition Night, so we parents got a minute in the spotlight too. This pic is our oldest son, Tanner with his proud parents. He's been playing hockey since he was old enough to pick up a stick -- banging real pucks against the baseboards in my kitchen, sliding around on his stocking feet on the hard wood floors, telling anyone who ventured in during his "games" to "get off the ice!"

We were on vacation in San Diego once and went to a minor league game. Sitting in the front row, we listened to a four year old Tanner bragging to another little boy that he had a rink in his house. That kitchen was his rink, and he was serious about it. We got him on the ice at the University rink near our home in Boulder when he was five, and we waited anxiously for the call from Boulder Valley Hockey to tell us they had a place available for him on a Squirt (or is it Pee Wee) league. In the meantime, while we waited, he played roller hockey and had a ball.

A lot of time has passed. Lots of roller, lots of ice. Flash forward 14 years, and he's still playing hockey as often as he can. He'll leave for college in the fall and play hockey there. The biggest difference: I won't get to watch every game. He's planning to go more than 1000 miles away to Colorado -- his home state. He's been wanting to get back there for years, and now he has his chance.

Standing on the ice the other night, it started to hit me. My days as a hockey mom, getting up at 3:30 a.m. to make sure I am showered and awake enough to drive him to practice, are about to end. I won't be spending 12-15 hours a week either in the car on the way to/from hockey or in the stands, bundled in a blanket, at a hockey game.

I'm going to miss hockey. I'm going to miss my fellow hockey moms and dads, some whom I've known for years. I'm going to miss the other kids. I'm even going to miss the alarm going off at 3:30 a.m. Most of all, I'm going to miss my son. A lot. It's really starting to hit me.

Maybe he really wants to go to community college and stay at home for a year...or two...when he gets home today, or on the way to hockey tonight, I think I'll ask him.

Most Snow in the History of Texas

Yes, this is a big deal. On Feb. 11 we woke up to a light dusting of snow at our house an hour south and east of Dallas, Texas. We were amazed. This rarely happens here. What fun! An hour later it started to snow. And it snowed for the better part of 20 hours. Some of it was rainy snow. Some of it was huge snowflakes. At times, it was truly snow SHOWERS. Needless to say, work and school were all cancelled around here. Dallas got more than a foot, we got far less, about four inches, I'd say. Most of the neighborhood kids have never seen snow like this in their lifetimes, and every one of them is outside, sledding, snowballing, making snowmen. It's quite a phenomenon.

My friend in Iowa says, "Big deal, we've had 50 inches this year." My relatives in DC are snowed in and have been for weeks. My friend's son is stranded in DC on his sixth grade field trip. We get this once every dozen years? It must be, because I've never seen snow like this here, and I've lived here for 10 years.

Now that I've seen it, photographed it (from my backyard, above), and seen my kids and everyone else's enjoy it, I'm ready for some sunshine. Tomorrow it will be in the 50s, let's hope by 60s by next week, then come the 70s and tennis weather, and then it will get hot. That's okay. I can deal with hot. I'm not so good with cold, and this snow, just seeing it from my office windows, makes me cold.

Thanks Mother Nature for the reminder of how beautiful the snow can be. Now let's get back to Texas weather. Tennis anyone?

The best photographer -- ever.

Yesterday I had occasion to stop by and see my favorite photographer, Jamye Perelli. She was in her studio editing, while her assistant tried to get her work done as a construction project (the installation of a huge light) went on overhead. It was very obvious that this lady is busy!

I stayed just a few moments. We discussed some writing I had done for her and some photography she will do for me. I left glad I'd stopped by. Some people just brighten your day and their creativity and passion fuels your own. That's the way I feel about Jamye, her husband Dino, and their entrepreneurial spirit and sense of fun.

Thanks for the inspiration, Jamye.

You can read about Jamye on her blog. Get there by checking this out...I don't know how I missed this, but I'm glad I found it now!
Tannerhttp://jamyeperelli.com/blog/tanners-senior-portraits/

You Can Change Behaviors with Fun

Where has this month gone?

If you're like me, it took you a while to get back in the swing after the holidays.

If you're like me, once you got in the swing, you started spinning,and it's been a whirlwind ever since.

The horrible earthquake damage in Haiti. I don't know about you, but I am paralyzed about what I can do to help. Do I have ten bucks added to my phone bill by texting a certain number? Do I give to the Red Cross? Do I adopt a baby or offer a family refuge in my home? For days I have been worried about what I should do.

Now somehow it's already Jan. 21. In Texas, it's 72 degrees outside and the sun is shining. It feels like winter is gone. Last night there was a tornado about 20 miles from my house. Tornados in January? That's just odd.

It's January 21. Pretty soon it will be spring break and graduation. Isn't my FAFSA paperwork due next week? Don't I have to do my taxes first? I've never done them before August, or at least April. Do I really have to do them now? Housing contracts from college will be here soon...is he sure that's where he wants to go?

Yes, in my world there is spinning and whirlwind activities, and time racing by and tornados just down the road. I'm thinking this is going to be one heck of a year. It surely has to be better than last year, right? If not, at least it's moving fast. So far, work is crazy, people are excited, and I'm having fun. So why don't I feel in control? I like my clients, they seem to like me, I've got more than ever, so it must be good, right?

But WHAT am I really doing every day?

Yep...I have to figure out what I can do about the situation in Haiti, or at least find out if the people who lost their homes a few miles down the road have some clothes to wear. But first I have to call that guy, and write that thing, and follow up on that other...I need to clear my desk of the lingering December work and get my invoices that aren't out, out! I owe this thing to that guy, and that thing to this guy...and new business is rolling in...

Yep, things are moving fast. This month has flown by. The holidays are definitely behind us.