Xavier’s team is out of the tournament and they will be on their way home in the morning. I am grateful that we are in a position where we can afford for him to play. Growing up I begged my parents to let me play hockey. If it was a position other than hockey I would have probably had a shot of doing it. We could not afford for me to play it as a kid, money wise and time wise. It is a lot of time spent at the arenas. Both of my parents worked and I am sure that they would not let me. I did not push them too hard though as I knew that playing sports was a luxury. Eventually I managed to get some equipment together and they let me play. They would not go to all my games though, so I had to ask for rides a lot. The lucky thing for me though is that as a goalie they always needed me there so it was not too hard to get a ride. My parents did quite a bit for us and I do not have any negative memories of anything growing up. There may have been times where we may have wished we had things, but they did the best they could. We did not have all the brand name clothing when we were kids.
My parents would buy super cheap things for themselves. It is interesting because for a lot of winter clothing if you get cheap stuff if it has no stuffing the insulation is bad. When they buy things now they get these large clothing. When she would see my things they would always think that it was not bulky enough and therefore not warm enough. I ended up buying my mother an Arc’teryx parka a couple of years back. One of the local stores I shop at put it aside and waited until they saw me again since they thought I would like it. At first my mother was worried that it would not be warm enough. It took her a bit of time but then she realized it was super warm and it was great. She then started wearing it less because she did not want it to get dirty. When I see a nice men’s version I will get one for my father. The only issue is the size he thinks he is and the size he really is may not be the same. It will have to be a special order since there are not a lot of Men’s medium in the ones I want in Sudbury.
I am grateful that I can buy gifts for my parents and help provide for them. My dad tells me all of the time that I do not need to work right now and that he can pay for our bills. I am not sure if he realizes how much we spend randomly on things every month. Every time it is just him and me he tells me this. I am grateful that our kids get to experience team sports and activities. I am grateful that we have enough flexibility with our work schedules that we can take time off to have these experiences with the kids.
Q