07/10/2022
I'm not crying, you're crying....
If you give a boy a hockey puck, he will want a hockey stick to go with it.
You’ll buy him the best stick you can find, and then he will probably want a helmet, gloves, and skates to go with it.
Then, he will probably spend hours begging you to go outside in the driveway to play with him, even though you may want to sit on the couch and watch tv. He will insist. And his insistence will win.
And when a boy gets a jersey, he will need breezers and socks and suspenders to go with it. And a TEAM…..And then life as you know it will end.
There will be no more lazy weekends watching tv. You will see more sunrises than you ever thought possible. Every spare minute of your time will be spent hauling bags and stinky gear and crazy boys all over tarnation for hours to practice for a game.
THE GAME.
And your house will be a mess. And your car will be dirty. All because you gave a boy a hockey puck.
Your weekends will be spent freezing in a hockey rink. And his weekends will be spent gaining confidence and friends, and learning new skills and having fun and getting sweaty. So sweaty in fact that you will have to learn how to do laundry in a whole new way, like maybe at a carwash using the pressure washer.
And you will be there the day he scores his first goal, gets his first assist and kills a penalty by blocking shots. And he will make you SO proud. The other parents will congratulate you. But you feel weird saying thank you because it's not you on the ice or on the penalty kill. It's him. He did this.
And right before your eyes, your little boy will be transformed from the baby who spun around with his skates on the ice, (because he loves attention), into one of the best hockey players you’ve ever seen.
When you give a boy a hockey puck, you give him more than just a puck. You give him a sport, and talent, and hope, and dreams, and friends, a new family, a place to learn about life, room to grow as a person where he can push his limits, and bravery, and courage and LIFE, and memories. And he will have ALL of these things, simply because you gave a boy a hockey puck.
Because you gave a boy a hockey puck, you too will develop new/lifelong friendships, developed solely from the same passion for the game and love of your team. You will root together. And spew PG-13 things out of your mouths together. Because you gave a boy a hockey puck.
Then one day, many years from today….he will be in his room and a puck will roll out from an old dusty hockey bag underneath his bed. And he will pick it up and realize instantly that when you gave that boy a hockey puck, you also gave him a childhood that he would never forget. And then he will hug you, and your eyes may leak – because you realize that everything YOU gave up along the way…..was worth it!
All because you gave a boy a hockey puck... 🏒
Author: Melissa Wagner
