2016 was the year of the Hockey Rink for our family.
Piper played in 100 games last season, including AAA ….. plus Davilyn and Quinn contributed their own hours at the rink. I would not change a thing. For when the girls are all grown and off on their own, they will remember this time in their lives and all the hours we spent encouraging and supporting their passions.
Magoo turned 10 in March. On her 10th birthday she scored a game winning goal for her AA team, we celebrated with a cup cake hockey rink and then she took one of her friends to the Winnipeg Jets game. All the while, I am just a mom taking it all in and thinking that 10 years have gone in the blink of an eye.
The days seem long but the years are short.
Davilyn turned 8 and she and her friends painted in celebration. She grew in an instant as we celebrated that birthday of hers. All the while, I am just a mom taking it all in and thinking that 8 years have gone in the blink of eye.
How did it get so late so soon?
Quinn turned 6 while she recovered from a tonsillectomy and adnoidectomy. She laid in our arms and I was reminded of what it was like to have a baby to snuggle with. She made new friends and asked me about wearing make-up. All the while, I am just a mom taking it all in and thinking that 6 years have gone in the blink of an eye.
The days seem long but the years are short and I’m wondering how did it get so late so soon?
You know what else happened this year that was pretty huge? I turned 40. I turned 40. And it was hard. I actually cried in a bathroom of a Las Vegas hotel, pulled myself together and returned to the piano bar to party with my husband Craig and my friend Kerri. My friends Gavin and Lindsay arrived a few hours later. But it really left me wondering…
How did it get so late so soon. The days have seemed long but those years far too short.
We took the girls out of school in June and surprised them at the airport with a flight to Las Vegas and a drive to California. We surprised them and it was awesome. I get to be the person (and so does Craig) who brings such joy to the lives of three beautiful girls. And as we were travelling along the West Coast I couldn’t help but think that I want to take them everywhere. I want to see so much with them and do so much with them. I am so blessed to have the chance and the opportunity to do what we get to do with them. My dreams are to collect memories…. kick things off of bucket lists and create an adventurous spirit in each of them. To travel and meet new people and just enjoy these moments that we are given.
The summer arrived and the girls finished school, the bus dropped them off at the end of our driveway and we said goodbye to Grade 4, Grade 2 and Early learning.
All the while, I am just a mom taking it all in and thinking that school year had gone in the blink of eye.
We enjoyed our summer close to home, taking in the latest Pokemon craze and watching Piper play AAA hockey in Minnesota. And …. we loved it. Piper spent a week at the University of Minnesota Duluth in the dorms. She played hockey all day and bonded with other camp goers all night. Dropping her off on that University campus sent me 8 years into the future to the day her Daddy and I are dropping off at her first year of University. She didn’t look back as she walked into that building and we sat in the truck watching her. In fact, we hardly heard from her all week even though she had a cell phone at her fingertips. When we picked her up all she could talk about was going back.
Davilyn went to sleep away camp too. She packed her clothing and her sleeping bag and off she went to stay in a cabin with a bunch of other girls. She had a great time and didn’t want it to end. I drove away with Quinn in the back seat and thought, “well at least I have my sidekick for one more year before she is off.”
Summer ended much too soon… as it always does but the excitement of a new school year took over and the girls stood at the end of our country drive way waiting on the big yellow bus to take them to Grade 5, Grade 3 and Grade 1. The excitement of learning and seeing their friends. Who will their teachers be. The excitement that only the first day of school can bring.
Hockey season started again and Davilyn and Quinn are playing on the same team. One last time I will have two girls on the same team. One last time. I was once in the season of firsts… first teeth, first words and first steps. Now, I am on the horizon of seeing some last times.
Like Davilyn’s Christmas concert this year. She moves to middle school next year and they don’t have Christmas concerts. When it was all over, instead of finding her Christmas spirit, she cried. She cried because it was her last Christmas concert and now things will be different. So we talked about it and how lots of things are new and different each year. Some things she will miss but mostly she will love the world around her and if she didn’t then she could try to join the student council next year and her platform could be to bring back the Christmas concert. And maybe she will or maybe she won’t but she is learning that she has options and she has a voice and sometimes it’s okay to be sad when things are over and to cry when things are done.
All the while, I am just a mom taking it all in and thinking that I’m sad that her Christmas concerts had gone in the blink of an eye.
As I sit here ready to say goodbye to 2016 and welcome 2017, I’m glancing in my rear view mirror watching my girls grow up before my eyes. And sometimes I’m thinking ” I don’t know how to do this!” I don’t know how to mend broken hearts and encourage dreams I don’t know much about. I don’t how \ be a mother to a tween and two girls that want their hair curled and nail polish on their fingertips. I have to remind myself that I thought those same things about having babies but for a brief moment my chest fills with air and I need to force myself to exhale. I need to remember to be in the moment that is my life and feel full. Full of love, full of blessings and full of happiness.
All the while, I am just a mom taking it all in and thinking 2016 had gone in the blink of an eye.
“How did it get so late so soon? It’s night before it’s afternoon. December is here before its June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?” Dr. Seuss
All the best as you enter the new year. To family, friends, love, laughter and hockey. Game on 2017!
