315 long, cold, endless, bum-numbing hours. From September to March, each year, it's the same routine, every day of the week and most weekends: load up the gear, get in the car, drive, drive some more, keep driving, arrive at arena early, sit, wait, watch, freeze, cheer, freeze some more, load up gear, get in car, drive, drive and drive some more. Then repeat. Yes, this is life in Canada as a rep hockey parent, and I am not alone. If you add up the parents of kids in house league hockey, rep hockey, figure skating, speed skating, skating lessons, curling and other ice sports, hundreds of thousands of Canadian parents are doing much of the same - essentially freezing their baguettes off for what can amount to (in my case) 315 hours, 13 entire days of one's life spent in an arena (not including playoffs and tryouts and summer camps). And it is awesome!!! If you're spending approximately 11.25 passive hours per week in a vast, steel, fluorescent-lit meat-loc...
Well...I try- try to get everything just perfectly so. From family to home, garden, cooking and beyond. Only problem is, well...nothing ever quite turns out the way I had hoped. I live by "almost": It almost fits, is almost edible, almost painted properly, almost deloused, almost safe... Will I ever get it right? Who knows. But along the way, it'll be anything but boring!