Sunday, March 16/14
Spent last week down in Orlando with my son for March Break and had a wonderful time.
Not surprisingly I came across a lot of things that gave me fodder for the blog and am in the middle of going through the notes on my tablet about all of them before adding some new posts.
In the meantime please enjoy this little quote I came across this morning while reading an email on a dating site :-)
"Later that day, I got to thinking about relationships.
There are those that open you up to something new and exotic.
Those that are old and familiar.
Those that bring up lots of questions.
Those that bring you somewhere unexpected.
Those that bring you far from where you started.
And those that bring you back.
But the most exciting, challenging and significant relationship of all
is the one you have with yourself.
And if you find someone to love the you, you love...
Well, that's just fabulous"
So very true.........
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Sunday, March 2, 2014
Music, hockey, and school
Sunday, March 02/14
New musical suggestion for today.......Beck's "Morning"
What a long weekend this has been.
I have my son and it feels like it has been ages since he was over due to the SAP training I was going through the past few weeks.
Friday was the start of a hockey tournament put on by the KMHA to benefit the Youth Services Bureau to assist kids in need for any variety of reasons. Because we are a local team we ended up playing 2 of our initial games on Friday so that meant missed school - not a big deal when the lads were in grade school but more of an issue now that they are in high school. Needless to say, my son was quite happy to be off and have me taking him to the games.
On the way to the 9 AM game he plugged his iPhone into the USB jack in my car and proceeded to blow my socks off with the songs he downloaded and has been listening to the past couple of weeks. He started off with Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall", moved onto some "Jump" by Van Halen, transitioned to Queens "Bohemian Rhapsody", moved onto Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven, Toto's "Africa", and ended with The Rolling Stones "You can't always get what you want".......
My son has been a very welcome source of new music for me over the years and it was pretty cool to see him discovering some of the classics from my own youth. We've been doing the same with movies over the last couple of months with viewings of "The Breakfast Club", "The Outsiders", St. Elmo's Fire", and next up is "Sixteen Candles" when we get back from March break.
Friday's morning game against WEHL went pretty much like most of his teams games have gone this season. They started off playing on their heals, gave up an early goal, slowly fought back to get it all even, and than had a mental breakdown to allow the winning goal to be scored with less than a minute. The end result didn't bother him all that much as he said he thought West End played the better game and deserved the win.
We went home as our next game wasn't until 1:30 PM and we had to fill out his course form for grade 10 that was due by end of day. I was a little miffed as he was supposed to have done it with his mom Thursday night but she forgot and he knew that we'd do it together on Friday so he wasn't too stressed. For a parent who places a large value on education it sure does seem like I've been the one attending parent teacher meetings and dealing with course selections when it comes to my son where his mom seemed way more involved with our daughter.
As we sat in the kitchen and went over his options he said something that made me sit up and look at him with fresh eyes.......he told me he wanted to take Civics in summer school so he could try and take grade 11 math in the spring and that way have the option of taking both university prep level math courses offered in grade 12. Additionally, he wanted to take another course in French (applied tho and not academic) as well as Italian. I asked him if he understood the course load he was looking at for grade 10 and how much time it would mean with homework and such, he said he wanted to really apply himself so when it came time to select a university he would have options and not be limited to just going to college, even if it meant going away for school. I didn't say anything thinking that I knew the fight that was ahead of us when his mom learned he was thinking of going away to university as she has been very vocal about him staying in Ottawa as she worries he'll go the same route his sister did and party away the first year. I'm not as concerned as I know my kids are blood relatives but worlds different when it comes to sports and school.
Almost as if he was reading my mind he smiled at me and said he knew I'd make it happen if that was what he really wanted..........oh how that boy knows his father....luckily for me I've got a little over a year before I broach that subject with his mom.
I dropped off the forms at his school and took a moment to review them with a counselor and was impressed when he told me that while it was pretty ambitious that he was confident that my son could do it.
When I was fourteen I did everything in my power to avoid taking hard courses and spend as much time thinking about Kelly Davis and Maryanne Meloy as I could get away with.....and here is my son looking to double up his math courses so as to provide himself with options.......
We headed off to the afternoon game against Renfrew, a valley club that usually fields strong teams, and my son said he wasn't looking forward to this game as he knew it wouldn't be pretty.......spoken as if he was prescient as the final was 5-0 with little effort put forth by his team. My son took only his second penalty in his hockey career when he was called for tripping when the player actually just fell over his own stick. As I watched him skate off the ice at the final buzzer I commented to his mom and her boyfriend that it was going to be one quiet ride home for me with him and she laughed and said better me than her.
When he came out of the dressing room I could tell he was really upset and when asked why he responded that a couple of his team wanted to skip shifts as the other team was too fast or pushed too hard, he said he wanted to punch them so hard for being quitters and told them to man up.....his mom made a comment that he needed to go easy as not everyone can be a star all the time........I reached over and took his hockey stick and bag as I sensed something bad was going to happen as he looked so pissed off at her for pretty much blowing off how he felt and making a joke out of it.........I told them I'd meet them at the car and walked off as they were exchanging words,,,,,,her boyfriend walked fast to catch up with me and said he didn't want to be around them as it looked like world war 3 was going to break out. I laughed and said she needed to realize that he wasn't the little boy who didn't care about such things but had grown into a young man who expected people to make an effort.....that while he wasn't as competitive as his sister, thankfully, he was still far more competitive than he admits or his mom cares to acknowledge. As I got to the car and loaded his gear in it I could see her reach out to hug him and him shrug it off......a look of anger cross her face and her tell me to deal with it....I smiled at her and said I totally got where he was coming from and knew he would be fine if left to think things over but the worst thing anyone can ever do to someone who is passionate about a sport is laugh off their concerns/comments.
When we got home he walked to his room and after changing came out and just hugged me....for a long time
He asked me why I got him and his mom didn't and I just smiled and said she did, just in different ways than I did and that's why it is important for him to have both of us in his life.......that she still sees him as that little guy who first played hockey and soccer and would stop in the middle of a game to check to make sure a player on the other team was OK when they fell down whereas he was now more competitive, that I still see him as that little guy when he isn't feeling well and want to do everything in my power to protect my little guy from all the hurt. We both have different views of him and we both need to make some adjustments as I know I drive him nuts with my worrying about him all the time, it leaves him feeling like I picture him as a little kid.....and I do....and I don't.......I see both of those son's and feel sadness as the loss of one and pride at the emergence of the other.
Recently I read somewhere where a person asked another to use three words to describe what was important to them....can't remember the words they replied with but for me they'd be family, faith, and golf.
What three words would describe you?
New musical suggestion for today.......Beck's "Morning"
What a long weekend this has been.
I have my son and it feels like it has been ages since he was over due to the SAP training I was going through the past few weeks.
Friday was the start of a hockey tournament put on by the KMHA to benefit the Youth Services Bureau to assist kids in need for any variety of reasons. Because we are a local team we ended up playing 2 of our initial games on Friday so that meant missed school - not a big deal when the lads were in grade school but more of an issue now that they are in high school. Needless to say, my son was quite happy to be off and have me taking him to the games.
On the way to the 9 AM game he plugged his iPhone into the USB jack in my car and proceeded to blow my socks off with the songs he downloaded and has been listening to the past couple of weeks. He started off with Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall", moved onto some "Jump" by Van Halen, transitioned to Queens "Bohemian Rhapsody", moved onto Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven, Toto's "Africa", and ended with The Rolling Stones "You can't always get what you want".......
My son has been a very welcome source of new music for me over the years and it was pretty cool to see him discovering some of the classics from my own youth. We've been doing the same with movies over the last couple of months with viewings of "The Breakfast Club", "The Outsiders", St. Elmo's Fire", and next up is "Sixteen Candles" when we get back from March break.
Friday's morning game against WEHL went pretty much like most of his teams games have gone this season. They started off playing on their heals, gave up an early goal, slowly fought back to get it all even, and than had a mental breakdown to allow the winning goal to be scored with less than a minute. The end result didn't bother him all that much as he said he thought West End played the better game and deserved the win.
We went home as our next game wasn't until 1:30 PM and we had to fill out his course form for grade 10 that was due by end of day. I was a little miffed as he was supposed to have done it with his mom Thursday night but she forgot and he knew that we'd do it together on Friday so he wasn't too stressed. For a parent who places a large value on education it sure does seem like I've been the one attending parent teacher meetings and dealing with course selections when it comes to my son where his mom seemed way more involved with our daughter.
As we sat in the kitchen and went over his options he said something that made me sit up and look at him with fresh eyes.......he told me he wanted to take Civics in summer school so he could try and take grade 11 math in the spring and that way have the option of taking both university prep level math courses offered in grade 12. Additionally, he wanted to take another course in French (applied tho and not academic) as well as Italian. I asked him if he understood the course load he was looking at for grade 10 and how much time it would mean with homework and such, he said he wanted to really apply himself so when it came time to select a university he would have options and not be limited to just going to college, even if it meant going away for school. I didn't say anything thinking that I knew the fight that was ahead of us when his mom learned he was thinking of going away to university as she has been very vocal about him staying in Ottawa as she worries he'll go the same route his sister did and party away the first year. I'm not as concerned as I know my kids are blood relatives but worlds different when it comes to sports and school.
Almost as if he was reading my mind he smiled at me and said he knew I'd make it happen if that was what he really wanted..........oh how that boy knows his father....luckily for me I've got a little over a year before I broach that subject with his mom.
I dropped off the forms at his school and took a moment to review them with a counselor and was impressed when he told me that while it was pretty ambitious that he was confident that my son could do it.
When I was fourteen I did everything in my power to avoid taking hard courses and spend as much time thinking about Kelly Davis and Maryanne Meloy as I could get away with.....and here is my son looking to double up his math courses so as to provide himself with options.......
We headed off to the afternoon game against Renfrew, a valley club that usually fields strong teams, and my son said he wasn't looking forward to this game as he knew it wouldn't be pretty.......spoken as if he was prescient as the final was 5-0 with little effort put forth by his team. My son took only his second penalty in his hockey career when he was called for tripping when the player actually just fell over his own stick. As I watched him skate off the ice at the final buzzer I commented to his mom and her boyfriend that it was going to be one quiet ride home for me with him and she laughed and said better me than her.
When he came out of the dressing room I could tell he was really upset and when asked why he responded that a couple of his team wanted to skip shifts as the other team was too fast or pushed too hard, he said he wanted to punch them so hard for being quitters and told them to man up.....his mom made a comment that he needed to go easy as not everyone can be a star all the time........I reached over and took his hockey stick and bag as I sensed something bad was going to happen as he looked so pissed off at her for pretty much blowing off how he felt and making a joke out of it.........I told them I'd meet them at the car and walked off as they were exchanging words,,,,,,her boyfriend walked fast to catch up with me and said he didn't want to be around them as it looked like world war 3 was going to break out. I laughed and said she needed to realize that he wasn't the little boy who didn't care about such things but had grown into a young man who expected people to make an effort.....that while he wasn't as competitive as his sister, thankfully, he was still far more competitive than he admits or his mom cares to acknowledge. As I got to the car and loaded his gear in it I could see her reach out to hug him and him shrug it off......a look of anger cross her face and her tell me to deal with it....I smiled at her and said I totally got where he was coming from and knew he would be fine if left to think things over but the worst thing anyone can ever do to someone who is passionate about a sport is laugh off their concerns/comments.
When we got home he walked to his room and after changing came out and just hugged me....for a long time
He asked me why I got him and his mom didn't and I just smiled and said she did, just in different ways than I did and that's why it is important for him to have both of us in his life.......that she still sees him as that little guy who first played hockey and soccer and would stop in the middle of a game to check to make sure a player on the other team was OK when they fell down whereas he was now more competitive, that I still see him as that little guy when he isn't feeling well and want to do everything in my power to protect my little guy from all the hurt. We both have different views of him and we both need to make some adjustments as I know I drive him nuts with my worrying about him all the time, it leaves him feeling like I picture him as a little kid.....and I do....and I don't.......I see both of those son's and feel sadness as the loss of one and pride at the emergence of the other.
Recently I read somewhere where a person asked another to use three words to describe what was important to them....can't remember the words they replied with but for me they'd be family, faith, and golf.
What three words would describe you?
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