E- Life flying by

Picking up 4 extra night shifts in the last 2 weeks started a series of about 21 days when I was either away from home completely or out until at least 10 pm.  However, I can't complain because life is full of good things.

I am coaching my regular basketball session 2 nights a week and helping out with Molly's Jr Girls' school team a couple of afternoons.   I coach Lukey's hockey twice a week as well.  I have also been playing both basketball and hockey once or twice a week.

Finny has been running with twice a week with the Thunderbirds Track and Field Club and both girls have started volleyball at the community centre.

Because February isn't busy enough, I added a few special events to the calendar.  I coached two basketball sessions with girls from RBL.  I also set up a visit for our basketball program to a UBC Thunderbirds game and got everybody pizza.

Afterwards I went out for a couple of drinks with my former team-mates Gerald and Ken.

The next night I went with 10 guys from our department to the Variety Telethon at the casino.  It was pretty cool to witness the generosity of people calling in. I personally had around $10,000 in phone donations over the 2 hours I answered the phones.  

There was still time for an awesome Valentine's Day trip to Spa Utopia at Canada place.

Needless to say I haven't had much time around the house lately.  Whenever I have, Lukey has decided the best way to get me to play with him is to grab a ball.  He recently got a glove and baseball and constantly wants to through it in our undersized living room.  He's also wanting to play one on one  basketball whenever I'll endure the pain of chasing him around on my knees.  

You know the feeling you get when you are cleaning up other people's stuff? The way your jaw tightens when you come across uneaten breakfast dishes sitting on the table. Spilled juice that dries sticky on the wood? Cracker crumbs that can only be produced by truly reckless eating. Like Cookie Monster.

I spent a lot of time picking up after people, big and small. Occasionally, very occasionally, a tiny bit of resentment creeps into my brain. Just tiny, but still.

My blood simmers. Not boils, just simmers a little.

I was cleaning the table, crumpling up all the scraps of scribbled paper, tossing them in the recycling. I grabbed a small piece...and just before I allowed my fist to close around it, I glanced at it quickly.

My heart tightened. A flood of wetness in my eyes. "I love all of you," it says. Written in a six year old's tentative and laboured script. Sweet, sweet boy. 

I love all of them, too. I am lucky, happy, grateful, to pick up any and everything my people chuck around. I will take care of them. 

For as long as they will let me. 

E- Florida 2012

Basketball season

Up to this year, basketball has been a purely conceptual exercise for Molly. She plays once or twice a week in Eric's program. Because the sessions are primarily skills based, she is pretty solid on the elements of basketball. 

It is putting them all together that is brand new...and slightly perplexing.

The picture below is my dear girl getting her third or fourth foul in the first quarter of her first (ever) school game. Molly is guarding number 59. And...she is doing a great job. The only problem is she is guarding in the back court. The rule in elementary school basketball is "no guarding until the ball gets over half court." Well, that's not what Moll learned. She was playing some awesome defence. 

Too bad it was illegal. She was MAD. Really, really steamed. Which I found hilarious. And a little heartbreaking. They had their very first team practice at lunch hour on the day of their first game. 

Our girls lost. But they were gruesomely overmatched. They were a group of six grade fives. Against a group of 16 grade sixes. That's our bench on the left. The girls in yellow were our opposition.

There were just as many scorers and officiants as we had players.

The good news was that they got lots of playing time each and none of the girls ever wanted to sit out. Despite the drubbing they took. For a first game, I was very proud of our girl.

Molly took all her conceptual learning of bits and pieces, skills and drills and pulled them together into a whole. It was a valiant first effort.

Onward and upwards...

Poor Lou...

This is what happens when you have two older sisters with some time on their hands.

E- Do Rey Me

While I took Lukey to Sean Farquar's magic show in North Vancouver, Les decided to surprise the girls by taking the to one of the final shows at The Ridge Theatre. She didn't tell the what they were doing, so Finny was quite baffled as to why she left home in the middle of January in Austrian lederhosen.

I think she was quite relieved to find lots of other people at The Sound of Music sing-along also dressed up. Fin even got up on stage and won a prize.

Last week the girls also started volleyball lessons...and here they are on the way to their first practice.