hockey nostalgia

I've always been a hockey fan

I'm not good at it, but I like to watch it

I understand the rules, I can remember a lot of the players names

as well as team names (one time last year mike & russ didn't believe me, so they tested me, and I think I did pretty good!)

hockey is nostalgic for me

i remember the many afternoons at the hazelridge rink

cheering on my brothers team

and playing with all the other "hockey sisters" in the arena

but mostly, hockey reminds me of my grandpa klassen

we often slept over at grandma & grandpas house on devon avenue on saturday nights

and grandpa had a saturday night ritual

hockey night in canada

i remember grandma would run me a bath and i would splash around in there

(you kinda had to splash.. since grandma & grandpa would only ever fill the tub with about 2-3 inches of water! good mennonites, conserving water *smile*)

once I was done and I had changed into my pjs grandpa would have me come join him to watch the hockey game. 

he would pull out his black comb that he always kept in his shirt pocket

and he would gently and patiently comb through my long blonde hair

i had long hair, and it was often full of tangles

but grandpa didn't mind

he would often have some kind of treat for us while we watched

a bag of smarties was often the treat

and grandpa believed that we needed to savour them - that it was quite silly to grab a handful of smarties and chew them up all at the same time

so we ate them, one at a time

slowly, enjoying

thats how grandpa was - always looking for ways to savour everything - enjoy it to the fullest

once the game was over (or it was time for bed) we'd go to the kitchen for our "midnight snack"

a bowl of cornflakes with a sprinkle of brown sugar and a few slices of banana

then we would get tucked in, tuckered out, and happy

i really miss my grandpa

so, hockey makes me nostalgic, and i can't help but get excited with all the hoopla over the jets.

there is something wonderful about a city that rallies behind it's team

i have even got teary reading newspaper interviews with the new jets team.

it's going to be fun to have the nhl back in our city

hot 103 put out this song - basically they re-wrote the words to lmfao's party rock anthem to be all about the jets, and i can't help smiling the whole time that I listen to it.

the official season is about to start - and with nostalgia and excitement.. i can't wait!