What I do for Love

111 miles from doorstep to parking lot. 111 miles from parking lot to my garage. 3 times a week right now...perhaps 4 times a week starting in the Fall...not counting the travel...What am I talking about? Hockey, of course.

Matthew is doing a camp with the Jr Preds in Nashville. He really wants to play for the  Jr Preds this next hockey season. They play fast and they play hard, right up Matthew's alley. There is one big hurdle at the moment...The Jr Preds were only approved to play Tier 2 and not Tier 1. There is a little rule that if you play Tier 2, players have to be within 100 miles...Tier 1? They can come from anywhere. The Tier 2 status has been appealed and they are hoping for Tier 1. So, the question is for now...if it is not overturned...is the 100 miles by road or as the crow flies? We are 93 miles from the Ford Ice Center as the crow flies.

The parents want Matthew on the team so I think he would make it but here is hurdle number 2. I am 55 years old...that is a lot of driving. A lot. Dark rainy and sometimes icy nights driving home...The country is beautiful between here and the Rink but is it that pretty in the dead of winter when it will be dark coming and going?

Matthew has outgrown the other players his age. This year, I think he will be fine playing with a combined age team but next year, it just won't work...and what if by not playing with the Jr Preds this year, he won't be accepted next year?

The Coach here has presented his case for why Matthew should not play for the AAA team which draws from GA, TN, SC, and AL. We had already decided against that team as not quite the right fit. (Okay, so many moms let me know the '04 team has some behavior issues and the Coach was removed so AA hockey it is for us.) Now where?