the last season

if you're new around here, you might not know that i'm a sports mom. football, hockey + baseball. the boys also golf for fun + can play a mean game of whiffle ball in the driveway. willa loves to play the toddlers edition of volleyball + catch ... and is excited to learn how to skate soon. so, it looks as if sports will be in my life for a good while longer.

first north shore storm game at the ruk during tucker's senior season. tucker is #4.

however, this hockey season hits a little different. for one, it's tucker's senior year. his last year playing varsity high school hockey. as they add wins + losses to their record, i have kept the mental countdown that will lead us to that final skate sometime during playoffs. not only will it be weird for me, but i know it's going to be hard to watch tucker and his buddies say goodbye to this team they have played with for the past 13 years. he already knows it will be hard, he's said so himself.

but then, there's another part of this story. levi decided not to play hockey this year. he would have been in bantams. he had been thinking about leaving in prior seasons, but this year he finally ... retired. he wasn't having fun anymore. i knew it may be the last time i seen him on the ice with the team this summer during hockey camp ... and it was. honestly, it was the same thing tucker did a couple years ago with football. you only get so much time in life. even as a kid, why would you want to use your time to do something you don't enjoy? we talked a lot about it with levi because it was such a big decision. he was good with it. and so were we. he is still clocking games + plans to hit the outdoor this winter.

levi (age 13) + tucker (age 17) during the north shore hockey camp in july 2023. that being said ... this is it for my season of being a boys hockey mom. driving in the snow to get to a game. standing along the rink in a freezing arena cheering my face off. kicking the boards when our team scored. enjoying that delightful hockey scent. it's all going to be packed up in my memory + filed away. my passion for the game + the teams will be packed up right along with it. it's just the truth of it all. once your own aren't there, it doesn't have the same appeal. so, i'm going to enjoy this final hockey season. all the while, slowly saying goodbye. and if willa decides to play hockey in her future, i guess we will get to begin again. how lucky would we be if she wants to be like her older brothers (and daddy)? or maybe she will be the stat girl like her mom was. breaking clipboards on metal railings as she cheered for her high school team. only time will tell. where are my sports moms at? have you been through any of this? senior seasons? kids letting go of their interest in a sport? how did you feel through it all? please share!

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