One "Sick" Day

Sometimes in life there are moments that happen that will be cherished forever. Sometimes these moments are planned, and sometimes they are not. Back in November I came across an ad in the Sportcheck flyer and it read, “Maple Leafs Sports Clinics” goalie camp with Leafs goalie JS Giguere. It caught my attention because as you all know, my son is a goalie and he absolutely loves the Leafs. I went online, read a little bit about the day and voila..Registered my little Joseph.

There are not too many times you can get opportunities like this. It was a 4 hour day planned. On Ice training and off ice training. He would get one of his on ice trainings with Giguere himself. There would only be 20 kids per group so I thought it seemed pretty reasonable. My husband and I surprised Joseph with the news and he was so excited but he had to wait over a month for the day to arrive.

On December 12, the day finally arrived. He woke up very excited and he was getting ready to go. I think he was a little nervous because he was quiet and that is not like Joseph to be quiet. My sister Nancy decided she would join us because my husband could not make it, he was busy at work. We packed his bag and we were on our way. It was raining the whole way, and he was silent the whole time.

When we got there, there were dozens of little boys (and a few girls) all waiting for instructions and the day’s agenda. They had lunch first, and then they went on the ice for their first round of training. After an hour, they undressed and went to the off- ice training. When they were done that, they got dressed again to go out on the ice. But this time, they were going to be on the ice with Stanley Cup champion Jean Sebastian Giguere.

The kids were as excited as they were nervous. They make their way out there and they wait for the buzzer to go off. The group before them exits the ice, and then they enter. They all gather in the centre of the ice where the organizer gives them a positive pep talk. “You must be better than the last game, better than yesterday, and better than this morning.” The kids were just listening and absorbing all the positive words. All the moms were watching from the glass, for other reasons than the boys were..lol. After a few minutes he says, “Please welcome JS Giguere. All the kids were banging their sticks on the floor to make the most noise they could. Giguere joined the circle and was just chatting with the boys. After a few minutes, all the kids made a line and they waited for their chance to get their picture taken by a professional photographer with Giguere. What a memory! So they removed their helmets, each child had their smiling shot taken and the clinic began.

After the session was over, they all scurried to the dressing room and continued talking about what they had just experienced. All smiles were around the dressing room. As they were leaving, they all got their signed picture of themselves with Giguere. A keepsake they will always have.

I had brought Joseph’s Leafs jersey just in case I would have a chance to get JS to sign it. He was on the ice with the next group of kids so it was going to be kind of hard. But never underestimate a mother on a mission. My son was shy and said to me, “It’s ok let’s just go.” Oh no no no no. I was going to get that jersey signed no matter what.

I waited for the next group of kids to be done. So as he had done before, he was signing the pics of the individual shots at the bench. This was my chance. I quickly walked to behind the bench where there was just him and 2 young teen girls. 1 of the girls came up to me, and tried to speak. I managed to get JS’s attention and I said, “JS, can you please sign my son’s jersey.” He said, “Sure no problem.” I had to wait for him to sign the rest of the pics. I shook his hand and just chatted a bit. He signed, “To Joseph, JS Giguere.” I thanked him, and I ran back like the wind.

If you would have seen Joseph’s face, it was priceless. He was overwhelmed with joy. As we were walking back to the car, I explained to Joseph that he just witnessed a very valuable lesson. I told him, “Joseph if I would have given up and left when everyone else did, we would not have gotten what we wanted.” I went on to explain that in life no one person will hand you what you want in your lap, you must go get it yourself. He understood what I was saying and he realized that I just taught him something. I said, “The worst thing someone can say to you is No.”

The day was fun. The day was rainy, but the day was amazing. My son experienced something that doesn’t happen very often. He was on a high for the rest of the night. When we got home and he was getting ready for bed I sat beside him and we just chatted like we always do and Joseph and I both agreed that night, that he had just experienced one “sick” day.
That’s my peace today!

Baked Brie with honey and pecans
1 small brie
brie baker
2 tbsp of honey
1/4 c toasted pecans
a drizzle of olive oil
Remove the Brie from it's wrapping and put in an oven proof dish.
Make a few cuts in the top, drizzle with the olive oil
bake for 10 minutes, or until gooey. Remove lid and drizzle with the honey and sprinkle with the chopped pecans.
Serve with lots of French bread to scoop up the gooey cheese.