Uncle Sol Starting a thought farm

Old Dogs and New Tricks

I am 36 years old, and until two months ago I had never put on a pair of ice skates. However, tonight, I had the pleasure of playing ice-hockey on a coed league for all levels. My fiancee, Tiffany, you see, is much younger than I am, and has been playing hockey ever since she was a kid. She loves playing. And she thought it would be fun to teach me to skate and see if we couldn't play together. I thought the idea, though not without its hurdles, sounded like quite a lot of fun.

So, two months ago we went out and bought me a bunch of hockey gear, including ice skates, and I commenced learning how to skate. My first time on the ice I didn't think I would be able to move. I was very unbalanced and was very uncomfortable leaning all of my weight on one leg and pushing off with the other. I spent the entire time staying as close to the wall as I could and moved along slowly, with much trepidation.

Since then, we've managed to get up to the rink about 10 times, and my skating was progressing nicely. I certainly don't look like I'm competent on ice skates, but I've at least gotten to the point that I can push of with both feet a few times and glide and turn a bit. I am completely unable to stop myself without running into something.

So, tonight was the big night. Our first night playing with the league. My little brother, Tony, and his friend, Matt, also joined the league with us. My brother had never played hockey before, but is quite a bit more competent on skates than I am. His friend has been playing hockey since he was a kid.

We got creamed. The final score was 5 - 1. But, it was worth every minute of it. I had a blast getting out there on the ice, lunging at the puck with a lack of grace comparable to a small child first learning to ride a bike. I fell several times. But I was managing to get from one end of the ice to the other, albeit a degree of magnitude more slowly than my teammates and opponents. But still, I got out there and gave it a go. I even managed to get a shot on net. Technically. The puck was travelling along the ice slowly enough that I could have been walking it, but it got to the goalie, and had he not been there it would have gone in.

Tiffany was very happy to get back on the ice again and played very well - she even had an awesome cross-ice pass to one of the other women on the team - though she didn't quite come down with it. The pass was right there and behind the defense, though.

Even cooler was the fact that Tony, in his first time playing was the one that scored our only goal.

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