Another Sign of Spring

A recurring theme in the Northern household recently has been everyone's fervent desire for Winter to be over. It has been a long, brutal season of cold this year. There have been temperatures dropping far below the annual averages and staying there for weeks at a time. Snow? Not enough to really go out and have fun in - not that anyone wants to play in the snow when it's five degrees below zero and the wind is whipping across the land. The Northerns have a measured and distinct need for sunlight - both to raise their levels of vitamin D, and to remove the ghostly pallor from their skin (yes, Vermonters are usually pale, but this winter, the Northerns are even more pasty white than normal).

 

So, how do they know that Spring is just around the corner?

 

Hockey season is over. Yesterday was the last day of hockey for this go-around.

 

No more wrestling smelly hockey skates onto stinky little feet while gagging at the locker room smells of ripe body odor and McDonald's-fueled gut bombs. No more sitting on the frozen sheet of plywood that serves as a bench two feet away from a large sheet of ice which is kept in a big room where the temperature is maintained at twenty degrees. No more trying to cajole a bull-headed little hockey star back onto his feet after the coaches tag him out (yet again) in freeze tag. (Side note: who is the smart ass that decided playing "freeze tag" at an ice rink was a good idea?) No more standing up at the end of practice and realizing that your toes are frozen. No more trying to take a step and realizing that it's not just your toes, it's also your legs that are so cold that you can't move in a normal manner. No more limping out of the rink into the morning air to come to the realization that the deep-freeze of the rink that you just endured for an hour was thirty degrees warmer than the outside air.

The end of Hockey Season also means not seeing your hero skater get out on the ice every week and flat-out zooming around the rink. It means not spending an hour every week being amazed at how much better he skates now than he did last year - how much better he skates this week than he did just last week. It means not having that sudden surge of pride as your hero skater shows a level of perception that is so far above the rest of his group that he looks like a pro as he anticipates a play and beats the group to the puck. (Then, minutes later, realizing that - even though your hero can read a play - he's not so much more gifted on the ice than any of the other kids. Evidence?: his favorite method of stopping on skates is crashing into the boards....)

 

 

A good hockey season comes to a close, and the Northerns are ready. Ready for Spring...