Cool POV

Sometimes the kids do or say something that just makes me think, “Wow, that was really cool.” It just strikes me as cool and somewhat mature POV, but you be the judge.

As you all know by now, we have become a hockey family, and N loves it. We are glad he is finding his thing outside of his sister’s influence, and want to be supportive and encouraging, especially since his dad finds it all so interesting, as well. Not knowing what the future held for this endeavor, we didn’t want to go out and buy all this new equipment, only to have it languish in the basement if he lost interest, so we went frugal. We spent countless hours at the Listen Center and hockey swaps amassing equipment, and our efforts were pretty fruitful. Some things you just can’t find or don’t want to get used. I think of helmets and maybe gloves, because the gloves can get pretty nasty smelling.

We also got him a new stick, because we needed something quickly last summer, and I didn’t realize the Listen gets an amazing number of sticks in the fall. Either way, we didn’t have time to dawdle, so I got him a wood stick at Stateline for about $15. That’s about as cheap as you’re going to get.

One thing you begin to see, however, is that the big thing in hockey is high-tech composite sticks. All the kids have them, and they can cost several hundred dollars. Of course, N asked for one after seeing all the kids with them. It turns out that youth and junior sticks are pretty reasonable, about $50, so we thought it would make a good Christmas present.

Now a corollary to this already verbose story is that at the Listen center big fall sale, I bought a stick for A for when she tried the “learn to play.” She wasn’t interested, but now we had this other stick, and it turns out it was a composite stick, to boot. One of the other coaches even said that they can cost up to $200 brand new, and I got it for $5. I found out later that the kid’s sticks are not nearly that expensive, but it makes the story more intriguing.

I cut the stick to size, N taped it up, and for the short term, he now had a composite stick. We also snuck out and got him a new composite stick from Stateline. Over the course of the past few weeks, however, he has slowly gone back to using his wood stick, which he seems to prefer. He says it’s actually light enough, and that he sort of prefers it. I will say this, he has a rocket of a shot with that stick. Anyway, I figured that he could still get the new composite stick, but when I asked if he was still interested in getting a new stick, he said not really. In his words, he said he already has two sticks, one of which is a composite stick.

Wow, that just melted my heart. I realize practical is boring for a kid, but what a practical way of looking at things. The reality is, at this age, the type of stick makes no difference, and even the coach was saying that he prefers wood, but he’s a pro. Either way, we were happy that it wasn’t just about getting more stuff, especially if you don’t need it. Gifts shouldn’t be about only what you need, but it sure is nice when it works out that way.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Davide Guglielmo for the pic.