Detective work…

I’ve found that watching NHL hockey,

with my daughters provides ample opportunity,

for conversation,

about how we want to be,

in the world…

Some of the questions they ask me are not that easy to answer…

I’ve never been one for rules,

or games,

so I don’t always know why the play stops,

or carries on…

I understand about the lines,

and why players don’t spend that much time on the ice,

in one stretch…

I’m starting to see how coaches determine match ups against the opposing team…

And although I’m not sure I’d want to watch my offspring smashed into boards,

and throwing down gloves,

I can get my head around some physicality,

and a good fight…

Like a hockey player,

in The Thirteenth Pearl,

Nancy Drew learns that it is important to spend time at the gym to build upper body strength as detective work may require fending off a vicious hair pulling…

I always thought hair-pulling was a girl strategy,

but I’ve seen the biggest swingers root their fingers into a few pelts,

on the ice…

Starshine, Little Gem and I talk about the ethics of fighting…

We partially support Gino Odjick when he says,

There’s a place for fighting in hockey,

but it doesn’t win games…

My girls also want to know about the women who dress like their daughters,

with the same big bottle blond hair and EVERYTHING hanging out of their Zambonis…

Why do they keep showing that woman shooting the puck at half-time,

over and over and over,

during the break???

Why is that woman sitting in the kitchen with her coffee when her husband has lost everything he needs to get to work.

and he can’t get his car out of the garage,

because his tire is flat?

Why is that woman smiling while her husband arranges flowers?

Is it because the flowers are for her?

She looks like she’s faking her smile…

The questions are fired faster than the possibility of revealing some answers,

mostly because,

as a parent,

how do you explain the thinking and doing of others when your standard operating procedures are so profoundly different???

How do you explain,

to your young daughters,

that there are women who believe that they can’t get to where they want to be in the world without bedding a professional athlete???

And that men who are loaded with skill and perception continue to fall for an age old routine???

How do men explain what they see on television,

during professional hockey games,

to their sons???!!!

I can guarantee you that it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to Google, viagra+what is? while you’re unconsciously busy squeezing hot sauce on your intermission smokie…

As a teacher I’ve seen a whole lot of six year old boys with better search engine potential than their fathers…

I weep because it is true…

Don’t we want our children to know that there is so much more to a rich life than doing three sit ups in a lounge chair from Canadian Tire,

while your wife pokes fun at your burn…

Or that a good and happy partnership does not start by giving your chi away to an incomplete stranger…

One can only hope,

perhaps by osmosis,

or through alignment,

that the core message,

know thyself,

gets through,

loud and clear…