Team Trials

You know, I have a huge soft spot for kids. It probably stems from being an oldest child and having a big part in raising some of the younger siblings. And of course this all stems into my love for my hockey team.

Every week something happens at ball hockey, either one of the kids acts out, they tell us something that's just out of the blue, or I get a chance to really level with them and have a good conversation. Last Monday was no exception.

Us coaches always meet after the games to chat, brainstorm on what to do for our teams, talk about the games and see where we can help each other out. This past Monday was a jaw-dropper.

One of my fave players, Joe, had been looking sad all evening and I asked his coaches about it. He was usually not like that, usually he was playing hard, a bit cheeky and had a smile. The coaches didn't know anything, but the manager told us this story:

Joe's birthday had been the week before and at the last minute his mom had invited a couple friends to come and play at the Youth Center. It turned out that only one friend showed up. The dad brought the friend in, gave Joe his gift, left him there to play and came back half an hour later. When he came back he saw that his son was the only friend there, he snatched Joe's gift from him (already unwrapped), grabbed his son and left. Joe sat in his chair, obviously stunned, and cried.

Joe comes from a pretty good family, considering the other families we deal with at the Youth Center, but it's obvious he doesn't get the attention he needs. We're not exactly sure what it is, but there's something lacking there. So to see something like this happen to him is super hard. It's got to be so traumatizing!

As soon as we heard this, we all turned to each other "You free next Monday night?", "Yep.", "Good, I'll bring the cake, you bring the balloons. Invite the team, we're having a party for Joe". We're going to surprise him, it's going to be so awesome! We're going to set up a game of blacklight ball hockey, watch a movie and enjoy some cake! I seriously can't wait to see his face, he's such a sweet kid with a really great heart.

The Big Rant

I was watching TV last night and finally figured out that if I unhook the useless cable cord (since we don't have cable anymore) I can get two more channels. Figure that one out. The channels were just starting the new hour of shows and since Opera's "The Big Give" was on, I decided to stick with it.

At first when I had seen the ads for this show, I was weary...the thought of the show seemed good enough, contestants competing to give the most to others. Nice right? Sure. It seemed a bit weird to be COMPETING to give stuff...but they were giving things, so who's going to complain?

My fears were confirmed when I watched this finale. Three contestants were left, a beauty queen, a young millionaire and a dad of three girls. On this last challenge they had to work as a team to come up with their "Biggest Give".

During the course of this episode, the three "teammates" fought, batted for "who planned what" and who was going to get the credit for what, stomped off on their own, and then didn't even show up for the reveal of their "Give". This, to me, is completely missing the point of the giving. Completely.

Giving is to give, not because you're in a competition to give the biggest, not because someone might beat you and give bigger, and not because you friggen have to to stay in a game. Giving is supposed to be from the heart. I understand that it's a show, that it can't be completely from the heart because they're competing...but then isn't that missing the point? I mean yeah, by the end, they are all enjoying giving to those kids, providing that money etc. but the intitial thought wasn't "Wow, those kids need us, we should give them _____." The initial thought was "Quick, these kids are in need, let's give them a ton of money and a good experience and hope that it's enough to impress the judges".

And then. THEN. At the end of the show Opera says "none of these people expected anything for themselves". Yeah. RIIIIGHT. It's Opera! As if those people thought "Opera is having this show, I'm not going to get anything out of it, but let's go on it to have some fun and give a lot of stuff anyways." I'll bet you my left foot that getting something, something BIG, crossed ALL of their minds because of the simple fact that OPERA, one of the most successful women in the world, was hosting this challenge. Duh.

Sorry, I'm ranting, but this kinda bugs my butt. I get it. I get why they had the show, to get people to see the joys of giving...but it also showed people that someone else will be giving too so you better give bigger than them! That's sad. That ruins it. The dad of three nipped it in the bud when he mentioned in the show that the conflict between the players was taking away from the joy of giving.

It all just seems completely backwards to me! The thought of it is good, giving is great, everyone should give, everyone should set themselves aside and give more to others...but that's not what these contestants were doing. They were giving so that they could get the glory.

I hope this isn't what our world is becoming. A world of greedy givers.

Ok, so here's the thing. This post is a game. At the end of it, I'll tag several other bloggers and they'll have to do it too!!

First: Link the person that tagged you....ahem. Attention! Art4Friends tagged me!!

Then: List seven things about you.

Ok.

1) I'm the oldest of eight kids. Translated: I'm the guinea pig. Or was anyways...I hope they're not still doing tests on me! Oh crap, what if they are?!

Being the oldest of this many kids has it's ups and downs. I love having siblings that I can hang out with and have a good time with. They make life interesting, even if I don't see them enough. The youngest are twins, 4 years old now, so there's a huge age gap. But they're still super cute and fun (: The downs...well, I'm sure you can think of some...

2) I've had 16 jobs since I was 15. Some of them were overlapping, I think at one point I worked three jobs.

I think this is one of the reasons I want my Etsy store to work so badly! I don't really like working for someone else. It sucks. You always have them looking over your shoulder, assessing your work, telling you to improve when you know it already...it'd be so amazing to work for myself!

3) I knew I would marry the man I now call my husband since the first moment I saw him. Seriously. I know it sounds super sappy, but it's true. One of my friends had taken me to a group get-together and as soon as I saw him, I thought "I could marry him". And I did. A year later (:

Marriage is like wine. It gets better with age.

4) I have so many dreams for my life and what I want to be "when I grow up"...it's insane. I don't think I'll ever grow up because then I won't be able to finish my list!! My biggest one I think would have to be to write (and get it published!) a novel....ok, a novel series. Which brings me to number five.

5) I've been working on writing the same book for the past three years...who's seen that Family Guy episode where Stewie is mocking Brian for taking so long in writing his novel? (I'll see if I can find the clip). That's totally me. I have so many good ideas to write down, so many plots, characters, cities and escapes...but it's so hard for me to find the time to write!! I love it. Love it love it love it! But it takes so much time and it's hard to find any to begin with. Besides, Etsy and my crafts fills me up already. But I WILL get it published one of these days. It's a fantasy novel.

6) I'm eating hot hearts right now. My hubby and I gave each other our valentines gifts early. I got: hot hearts (YUM!), The Devil Wears Prada dvd, a hair magazine (I'm going to cut it all off!!) and a super sappy love note (: I'm so spoiled (:

7) I get pretty impatient with things that don't work. So when I stick to something, you know it's worth sticking to. Like Etsy and this blog. They're fun and rewarding...after you get it going. Getting things going is tough and tiring, but once they're on a roll...it's great to look back and see what you've accomplished!

Lastly: Tag seven people you want to blog this game and let them know!!

Make It
Lasso the Moon and
Posie Gets Cozy