The #5…

I want you to know that if I hadn’t been wearing a helmet today,

a good helmet,

I would either be laying dead in a morgue drawer right now,

or on life support,

as a vegetable,

at VGH…

And I was hardly moving…

Physics 11 was where I learned the theory,

but the ice is where theory met experience when my 5’5″ 150 lb.(pre-dim-sum weight) self was knocked over like a bowling pin,

by a big guy,

on skates,

who wasn’t watching where he was going…

and didn’t know how to stop…

Stick and Puck is dangerous,

even when you’re playing small on centre ice…

So I’m going to have to explore other options to find my game…

I left the rink immediately thinking it was because I was a girl that I didn’t feel like I had a place on that ice,

but when I went to the cashier to get a refund,

a man was there,

and he felt the same way…

He didn’t feel safe in that situation either,

and was wishing there were some other options,

because he loves to play hockey too…

Watching Ryan Johnson slam into the boards turned my stomach…

Million dollar salaries are not worth the risk of quadraplegia…

At Pho Thai Hoa (1625 Kingsway – note to self: next time order #98),

an hour or so after my fall,

a vision came to me in the steam of a bowl of #5…

A vision for a different kind of hockey…

A kind of reversal of Battle of the Blades,

for people who are captivated by a different kind of power,

than speed,

and violence…