The juggling act

I didn't even realize it long enough to appreciate it, but we were so close to getting a night off. So very, very close.

I'd been trying to coordinate rides so that AJ could play in a 6:45 scrimmage Tuesday night in Hermantown, while Sydney skated in Esko from 5:30-6:30. And then came the somewhat welcome news that Sydney's Learn to Skate class was being postponed a day. That solved the problem of being in two places at once on Tuesday. But it created a similar issue Wednesday because that's when she has dance class. Then I remembered - there is no dance class this week due to the mid-winter break in the Duluth School District. So the good news is, we have no scheduling conflicts. The bad news is, Wednesday would have been our first activity-free school night in more than three weeks. Not anymore.

As I commiserated with my boss, who's been through this with three boys, she gave me one of those all-knowing smiles and suggested I get used to it because this will be the norm for about the next ten years. Give me strength.

Maybe it's because thoughts of the future are too overwhelming, but I spent a lot of time this past weekend thinking about the past. AJ played in a hockey tournament in Cloquet.

Thankfully, only one of our games was in the Barn, the non-insulated arena I love to complain about more than any other.

Here's AJ making the save:

Sunday's games were in the newer, nicer arena - an arena I reported on when it first opened. (Which means it's really not so new anymore.) I remember being impressed by the woodwork in the arena, but other than that I couldn't figure out why it was newsworthy.

Whatever my impressions were that day, I never imagined I'd one day sit in that same arena to watch my son play.

Quick, shameless plug... Lakewalk Surgery Center is one of my clients. We designed the dasher board.

And another small world moment involving a hockey player on the other team. Check out #16 - the one with a grey hooded sweatshirt under his jersey. John's mom is not only a former co-worker from the ad agency. She's also a former high school classmate. And here are our sons, battling against each other for the puck.

As we drove home from hockey tonight... on ice covered roads with snow blowing all around us... AJ complained that it wasn't fair that it would be bedtime when we got home because he'd only gotten to play XBox hockey for 20 minutes today. Wrong thing to say to the wrong person. For me, it'd be my first time home in almost 14 hours. And so I asked AJ, "What about me? I didn't get to play XBox at all."

"But you don't even like XBox," AJ defended. "You don't even like to watch TV."

He has no idea.

Though to be fair, if I ever found myself with an evening to do nothing but watch TV or play a game of my choose, I have no idea what I would do. But it's not something I worry too much about. Because it's not likely to happen any time soon.