The Grind

Once upon a time, on a bright, slightly cool, late Summer morning, a young woman sat on her couch drinking a hot cup of tea. It was quiet throughout the house. The animals were still sleeping and her husband was checking his emails. She awaited the start of her favorite morning show while watching the breeze drift through the trees in the backyard, taking a few leaves with it. The first signs of Autumn.

Along with the first signs of Autumn come the start of a grueling, daily, never-ending, extreme, compulsive, no good, very bad obsession with hockey. HOCKEY PEOPLE! Who would have thought? The stereotypical part of my life has officially begun.

I know I wrote a week ago about how we started packing for our next season in Europe. But that was just the beginning. It was only to get us up to Canada before we actually have to start packing for Europe!! No, I'm not freaking out or anything. It's just that right about now Matt is skating for a few hours a day, along with working out, and somehow squeezing in enough time to see everyone at least one last time before we go.

Today is the only evening we have this week (before Matt leaves for Italy on Saturday) to ourselves. Everything else is booked solid. My mornings are no longer as pretty as this one sounded. I'll have to wake up to needing to go for a run before heading to hot yoga, spending the afternoon alone with my work and thoughts (not always a bad thing) while he skates and works out, filling my nights with family/friend chatter and visiting, and then somehow finding some much needed alone time with my very new husband before I don't see him for a few weeks. {Note to reader: This is not a run-on sentence. This is a run-on life.}

Whew. I'm already tired. Did I mention that after I drop him off at the airport on Saturday I have to make the seven hour drive home by myself the next morning? Nope. I didn't say that already. So ... after I drop him off at the airport on Saturday I have to make the seven hour drive home by myself the next morning. There. I said it.

I'm starting to hear of what guys from all over are doing this season. How so and so is heading back to Europe or is already there. This guy and that guy are trying to stick it out one more year in the A. Some of our friends are finally getting a shot at the show, while others are hanging up their skates for good. It's all so exciting and such a whirlwind.

I can't wait to get over there and see what this year brings for us. I know on the agenda we definitely have more traveling than normal. Some legit snowboarding on my part. I'm going to learn Italian. I am. Oh, and Matt is going to have a great season. How do I know this? Because I know him. I know how hard he works every year, no matter where he goes, and I know that we have such great friends SO close that there is no way this year could suck. No-effing-way.

Do you feel that? This just might be the first time a year completely filled with hockey isn't making me cringe!