Hockey Mom

When the boy got home yesterday, the Wife was already gone. When he asked where she was, I said she had something to do and we’d be meeting up with her a little later. That response didn’t entirely mollify him so I further explained we’d be meeting up with her at the hockey rink for his practice.

The boy’s practice was going to be followed by a pizza party and an open skate where all family members were welcome to get on the ice. So I also had to get the lass ready to roll. She was difficult as well, so I had to resort to blatant blackmail: no getting ready, no pizza at the party. Problem solved.

As circumstances would have it, I had a spot of trouble getting up the driveway. I had salted the driveway earlier, but with all the snow and the ground frozen solid, there’s no place for the melted ice to go. So it kind slicked up the lower portion of the driveway. The Wife had taken our SUV to her thing, leaving me our little front-wheel drive car. I had to resort to sanding the driveway so I could finally get enough traction to get up the driveway.

When we got to the hockey rink, I was putting on the boy’s shoes when he asked again when we’d see Mom. I said “She’s right over there” and pointed at the ice where a bunch of people were practicing hockey. He looked at the situation and took a couple of seconds to process the information. Then he said “Mom’s playing hockey?” and a smile spread over his face from one ear to the other.

“Where is she?” he asked. Luckily, she was retrieving a puck at that point so it was a simple matter to point her out to him. Then he temporarily lost his mind.

“WHAT?!? Mom’s playing HOCKEY?!?“

“That’s so dumb.” was his concluding statement, still with the smile on his face. Then he wondered if they would be skating with the kids or if she’d be teaching them how to play hockey. It hadn’t occurred to him that he’s likely a better hockey player than his Mother.

Of course, now that she’s got her own practice, that condition may only be temporary.