The Lament of a Hockey Mother

If you have never seen a girls' ice hockey game, you have missed a great sporting event. Girls aren't allowed to check, but otherwise, the game is the same as boys ice hockey. It is fast, and very exciting. Girls play ice hockey really well.

We had our final hockey games this weekend at the PonyTail Tournament in York and Lancaster Pennsylvania. Our girls started out the season so badly that at times we never thought they would win two games in a row. I guess that is the problem with starting a new season - it takes time for the team to gel. By the end of the season, however, our girls won all 5 games at the tournament and won their division - ending the season on a gloriously high note. Every time the girls scored, the coach put on a set of bunny ears for the next shift. It was hilarious to watch him, exciting to see the girls performing so well, and the trophy they brought home was big and shiny, making it all very worthwhile.

I never played competitive sports as a child, certainly nothing like ice hockey, and I still can't skate. I didn't have the experience of a travel team with my older child - every other weekend you are on the road to some frozen part of the East Coast - sleeping in bad hotels and trying to find a restaurant for 40 people at one time. We finally gave up on restaurants and started bringing carryout food back to the hotel. The good times were when we actually could have a room or the breakfast area for a communal meal. The bad nights were when we all gathered in someone's room and ate sitting on the floor. A really bad night for the person whose room it was.

I have learned to cheer for girls in Spanish. Dura LaLa! I have mothered girls not my own. I have written contracts on my laptop at midnight for clients wishing to buy houses I haven't seen yet. I have taken girls to the emergency room with dislocated shoulders. I have watched parents do and say incredibly stupid things to their daughters and I have seen great parents love their children. I have shared great bottles of wine and very funny stories with new friends. I have given and gotten incredible support from other hockey mothers. I have made what I hope are truly lifetime friends.

I have longed for the season to be over so I could stay home on weekends and work. Then of course, in true hockey mother fashion, I cried when the girls won and the season was truly finally over. Now that it is all over, I can't wait for spring season to start and a chance to get back to the rink so my daughter can see her friends, and I can hang out with mine. Go Montgomery Blue Devils!