Okay I know I haven't posed in a while and I'm sorry. A lot has happened in the past month or so. I have been to Vienna Austria and Bratislava Slovakia with rotary. also Christmas which was okay definitely a cocktail of emotions. Also a new year with a new family. But that's not what I am going to talk about right now. Don't get your knickers in a twist I will come back to all that stuff. But recently I have felt the most at home in ages, not because I have become familiar to the culture or because I love where I am, but because I found my mental happy place in real life. And that place is on a frozen lake with a stick and puck and a game of hockey. Lacing up the skates and stepping onto ice that probably isn't the safest yet have never been on smoother or clearer ice. Getting up at sunrise and skating to your legs say "Um we may need to go off now." (About four hours straight of hockey) Some people don't understand this feeling and it is quite hard to explain but its a natural feeling the pond or lake gives you it cant be achieved on a rink. there is a sense of freedom to it. It is where the legends like Lafleur, Messiar, Hull, Eddie Long, Reggie Primeau, Lionel Repka all started and learned there skills. A pond is where hockey is born, because you can do things and try moves on a pond that you could never try in a practice. It is also where you can play no matter how old you are. I've seen 80 year olds play a game with 10 year olds and its an even game because there is no age on the ice, hockey takes over and its a child's game. I am not that good at hockey but what the pond allows you to do is become one of your heroes even if it is for only a few minuets, you can play like Lafleur or Messiar. There was a famous line said in the movie Moneyball, and I would agree with it for the most part. "We're all told at some point in time that we can no longer play the children's game, we just don't... don't know when that's gonna be. Some of us are told at eighteen, some of us are told at forty, but we're all told. " This is true for the most part but the pond will never tell you if you can skate you can play here. I have been fortunate enough to play hockey on the pond for the last three days and was going to today but my ankles said "No we need a day off." I can tell you though its the best feeling in the world and if you don't know it I recommend you go find it.

Oh and I have the smile of a six year old for most of the time I'm on the ice. Also goalie skates are about the worst thing to actually "play hockey in!" They are definitely not meant to start stop quickly or make quick transitions but its what I had so lets play!