To Endings… and New Beginnings

Today’s Blog post is a bit of a mixed bowl, so as I’ve said before, stick with me Chiquitas.

Last week brought the end of camp. And end of camp = end of summer. As soon as camp’s over, it could be 100 degrees and scorching outside, but my head always feels back in the game. So despite feeling the usual sadness that the summer flew yet again, too quickly, we ended off the season on a high. My whole family gathered ’round the arena to watch my big son play in his final hockey camp tourney. I’m gonna be the annoying, bragging, proud momma now. Because after telling you how my son and I have always been the tortoise,  on Friday, he was the hare!

His first shift, we all cheered him on, but he was clearly out for a leisurely skate. He was slow, and sloppy. But then his daddy walked in after the first 3 minutes. And something snapped. My sweet little guy got hungry. And he started to skate. And want it. And to watch me and my husband were to see two completely different people. I was screaming and shouting his name after he scored the first goal, the second goal, and then the third goal… a “hat trick” as they call it. My husband only smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up and his nod of approval. And I got angry at my hubby, “Why aren’t you cheering for him and showing him your encouragement?” To which he replied, “I want to keep him humble, hungry and grounded. I will kiss him after. He should know I love him and respect him when he’s good, and when he’s not good. ” And I loved that. I couldn’t argue there.

After the game was over and the kids lined up at center ice, they proceeded as they always do, to call the “three stars” of the game. The third star, from the blue team… The second star from the blue team… The first star #6 from the white team… MY BOY!!! When they called his name, immediately, tears, tears. He skated over for his medal, <<1ere etoile, 1st star>>. And I could see through his mask, my shy, quiet, under-confident boy was proud. Proud that he worked for it.  Proud that he got it. And that just made me tear up even more. It was an incredible moment for him.

So with the end of camp, marked the beginning of school. We spent all weekend labelling his school supplies, and shopping for the PERFECT knapsack and Montreal Canadiens lunch bag. Our cousins helped us sharpen 50 pencils, and I labelled EVERY SINGLE COLORED PENCIL AND MARKER. Gotta love an assembly line and labelling EVERY. SINGLE. PENCIL. COLORED PENCIL. MARKER. For crying out loud, THE LABELS THEMSELVES ARE MORE EXPENSIVE THAN JUST BUYING HIM A BRAND NEW BOX OF COLORED PENCILS if he loses them!

So yesterday marked the beginning, first day of grade two. And with that came anxiety. HELLO… he comes by it very honestly!!! My hubby and I are hardly your most ‘chillaxed’ kinda people.  Who would be in his class? Would he get good teachers? So, on very little breakfast, he opted out of carpool, and my hubby took him to his first day. The send-off seemed a little iffy, so not knowing how his day went, I waited eagerly for carpool to arrive at the end of the day. And there he ran, right into his brother’s arms, hugging him… he was beaming. Phew. My shoulders relaxed. I relaxed. He told me grade two was amazing. All of his buddies were in his class, and his teachers were so nice. I then went inside and poured myself and my neighbor a BIG glass of red wine, and we all hung in the back yard. He then handed me his school bag. There was nothing inside, except one envelope with a few small things and a piece of paper. It said….

And again, the tears. What incredible life lessons to learn on the first day of Grade 2. It made me think again of new beginnings. And despite new beginnings being scary, they bring their own incredible gifts. A tabula rasa. A clean slate. The chance to start over and make things right. A second chance. What a gift. And I realized that my boys and I are going through the exact same thing, all at the same time.  With the launch of my book on September 27th just around the corner, entering into uncharted waters, in discussions lately for incredible opportunities, I find myself sometimes out of my own body. I don’t know what to make of these new beginnings. They are everything I signed up for, but scary just the same. Similar to my boys’ first day of school. So as we finish off old chapters, and begin new ones in our lives, I hope we’ll all find our way. One thing is for certain, I’m know I’m glad I finally got off the fence and took the jump towards chasing my dreams. I don’t know how it will end, but I’m enjoying the journey just the same.

What journey are you on? Have you taken the leap? Are you still stuck? I’d love to hear your story.

Until next time.

xoxEDxox