As any Canadian would know, it's Playoff time right now. I say this while rolling my eyes, which makes it hard to type. I am not a hockey fan. We are not a hockey family - or so I thought. It's hard not to pick up on the excitement of the final series when your city is in it to win it. The seas of blue and white jerseys, the flags flying from most cars on the road, the hockey shrines in windows and yards.
So me and the kids tuned in. Hilarious. Frankie had all kinds of questions like "Who are the white guys? Who are the yellow guys?" and "Why are they hitting each other into the walls?" or my personal favorite "They fall down more than I do when I go skating!" She also had some really observant questions like "How come they're starting in the circle instead of at that blue line this time?" and "How come that guy is sitting by himself?" (penalty box) I surprisingly had all the answers, which I give credit to the hours and hours of my childhood spent being dragged to watching my brother play hockey. I was really surprised at how interested Frankie was in it, and not just the fact that the ever-desirable glowing screen was on.
Where is this all going? Okay. It's been pretty crazy around here lately. It's summer, which is the busy season for Gabe, which in turn makes it the busy season for me. He is currently working 70 days in a row. IN A ROW. And that takes some adjusting. It hasn't been easy around here, between the kids and I. They miss their dad, I'm busier than usual with chores and errands, and it's been tense and picking up steam. So, in the spirit of the hockey game, and in Frankie's new-found interest for the Canucks, we went to work on our family yesterday. We made a game plan.
Frankie named us "The Fixers" which I love. We spent some time writing down descriptive words about our team, and what we are.
Then we wrote down ideas of how we can help each other to make the team happy and efficient.
Frankie took it really seriously, and had a lot of great ideas. We decorated with butterfly and heart stickers and pinned it to the wall above our kitchen table.
In the excitement of our new way of thinking, and in how well it was received, I thought of some other ideas and jotted them down myself.
It didn't fly. But it was very therapeutic.
Good luck tonight, to the Vancouver Canucks and all the dedicated fans. I hope you get a win, after those two devastating losses. If they would heed my advice, I say they should get together in the dressing room tonight and write out some team goals and ways they can help each other on some colorful poster board, like we did. Hey - it's working for us.
