It’s the Thought That Counts

I had a birthday the other day. Not a milestone one, but rather a run-of-the-mill, another-year-older-and-slower one. I was thrilled when Veronica and the kids “surprised” me at the train station after work and took me to dinner at the local diner. It was a perfect cap to a low-key day — a meal with […]

A Time To Brag

January 2, 2012 was a perfect day in so many ways. That was the day Ryan skated in front of 47,000 people on the kids auxiliary rink at the NHL Winter Classic in Philadelphia. I have told the story many times in this space. Indeed, it was one of the first posts on the blog […]

To Protect, or Stand Down?

A few weeks back, Ryan came to us with an idea for a school storytelling assignment. He was really excited about his idea. His parents? Not so much. We tried everything we could think of to persuade him in a different direction. He was insistent. He was stubborn. We tried enlisting his aide, over email, […]

We’re Talking About Practice

Ryan was ambivalent about going to his regular weekly hockey practice on Tuesday. To discover why required a bit of parental detective work. Ryan was originally supposed to miss the practice for his school’s winter concert, which was part of his music grade. Except we got a dose of snow on Tuesday and the concert […]

Back On the Horse

Watching Ryan play hockey has given me a lot of proud moments. The first time he attended a hockey clinic, the first time he scored a goal in a three-on-three, cross-ice, no-goalie scrimmage (and celebrated like he’d won the Stanley Cup), his first goal in a “real” game. This. This. This. But I don’t know […]