Taking Years Off

I am consistently impressed with what little fear Gus shows in trying new activities. He's always the first to volunteer. He's always wanting to try something new, and to build on what he already has accomplished.  Bicycling led to a motor cycle;  skiing has grown to snowboarding; and skating led to hockey.

So I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to see Gus's hand shoot into the air to volunteer when, on the first day of this hockey season, the coaches announced our team didn't have a dedicated goalie so they would be looking for volunteers to take a turn playing that position.

Saturday it was his turn to guard the net. He was excited about this new experience. I on the other hand was a nervous wreck. The gear was completely foreign to me, the idea of a puck being hurled at my kid's body was terrifying, and the fact that games are won and lost at the net was intimidating.

And for the three periods and 34 minutes I paced, wrung my hands, covered my eyes and prayed for it to be over; Gus was as cool as a cucumber.  In the end, it was  a close one, but his team won 4-3. And Dad lost 3-4 years off his life!