hockey

A Letter…On Senior Night

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I gave this letter to Nate last night…

Dear Son,

First born. First grown.

It’s senior night of your last hockey season.

Hours from now, you’ll walk out onto the ice in all of your gear. Your dad will walk stoically hooked into one arm and I’ll lean, unsure of the ice, on the other.

I’m preparing myself for how small I’ll feel. You’re tall now and on skates and in pads, you’ll feel so big to me. Bigger than I’m ready to admit you are.

Mothering you has meant the world to me.

You arrived, and my life became yours. For a second you were a hungry baby who couldn’t keep anything down. And then you were this amazing party-trick-toddler with an awesome sense of humor who loved to sign. Then you were the sweetest big brother who gave endless kisses to your baby sisters and told me how much you loved them all the time.

One of my favorite memories of you was when you were a spunky two-year old running around the house, spiking a little nerf football, declaring touchdown.

“Side step…side step…jiggle, jiggle, jiggly!” You’d dramatically mimic the words and end in an adorable toddler-butt waggle. You loved to celebrate. You still do.IMG_6181

With unbridled enthusiasm, you have often been caught up in the moment of celebration at such a level that you lose sight of those around you. I love watching when those moments happen for you.

I know your sports story has not been all celebration, but I’ve loved being a part of the harder parts too. I’ve loved watching you learn to skate and learn to tie your skates and learn to skate out of trouble. What’s added up over time has helped me to experience more parts of the full version of you than I ever could have known without hockey.

When you were little, you sang sweet songs and danced adorable dances. (Who am I kidding, you still do!) You were small, and cuddle-sized, but I didn’t see the truth.  The truth is, you were just as big to me then as you are now.

Hockey has grown you, but I hope you remember, you’ve always been big. See, that’s the thing about this space in my heart I’ve given over to you. It is bigger than you’ll ever be. You can’t grow into it and you can’t outgrow it.

At some point, you are bound to discover how big you’ve always been, and that is my eternal hope for you.

I am so proud of you and I‘m grateful you’ve made my life bigger. I just ask that you are patient with me as I grow used to what sometimes makes me feel so small.

Love,
Your Biggest Fan…Mom
Copyright Choosing to Grow 2017                                     www.meaganfrank.com                                        @choosingtogrow

Flying High…Landing Slowly

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Where’d You Grow Wednesday?

April 18, 2012

I grew in so many ways this week…I can’t write about it as well as I would like.

For those of you who know what I’ve been up to over the last week, you understand that I have been flying on cloud nine…literally.

I had the opportunity to attend the Female ADM (American Development Model) hockey symposium in Burlington, Vermont. The trip afforded me a chance to attend the World Championship for Women’s Hockey.  I learned so much that I could hardly describe my experience in a succinct blog post.  Instead I will highlight some of the biggies.

I LEARNED:

    • Flying in a small plane…in the spring…with plenty of turbulance…upsets my body.
    • My body…my ENTIRE body…responds to plane upset by sweating…A LOT!
    • Burlington has an adorable (and VERY small airport)…Newark, NJ does not.
    • Vermont has both water and mountains…but very few people.
    • Symposiums are an extremely great place for lifelong learners.
    • USA Hockey has their stuff together. Organized, well-run, and staffed with very committed and competent people.
    • Head microphones are great for moving about a room, but they are sensitive to breathing. 🙂
    • Presenting continues to be a passion of mine.
    • I live near one of the best resources for research about girls and women in sports. The U of M Tucker Center does phenomenal things.
    • Hockey people are a fun bunch. (I already knew that, but it was further confirmed over the weekend)
    • Canada’s Active for Life campaign inspires me.
    • Canada and the United States are years ahead of the rest of the world for the development of female hockey players.
    • The Canadian and American national teams put on a GREAT show in gold medal competition.
  • One of the Canadian captains, Hayley Wickenheiser, is certainly among the best female players to ever play the game, but she is also gracious, kind, and a fantastic representative for women’s hockey.
  • The IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation) is doing some wonderful things to inspire growth of women’s hockey around the world.
  • Presenting to a crowd of Olympians and Olympic coaches is a pretty fun deal!
  • There is plenty of room for growth in both my presentations and in my body of knowledge.
  • I am inspired by inspirational people.
  • There are a lot of smart people intent on making sports better for kids!

I hope in the coming weeks, I can better verbalize all the ideas and thoughts that are floating in my head. I feel so incredibly blessed to have had the opportunity I did, and I am absolutely certain about a couple more things:

1. I am a new fan of elite level women’s hockey and

2. I am motivated to create more fans in the girls who love to play.

I do hope you’ve found a way to grow where you are, and if so, I’d love to hear about it.  Shoot me an email:  choosingtogrow@meaganfrank.com.

 

Happy Growing!

 

Copyright 2012     Meagan Frank                       www.meaganfrank.com          Choosing to Grow

 

Where’d You Grow Wednesday?

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January 18, 2012 Edition

Shore of Lake Superior in Duluth, MN

I grew excited about being a goalie’s mom.

Going to Duluth for hockey is not an unusual trip for me. Our oldest has had a tournament there at least once a year for the last four years.

What was different about this trip was the fact that this tournament was a girls’ hockey tournament…and the player in my room…well, she was the goalie.

I knew when our daughter expressed an interest in playing full-time goalie for her hockey team, it was going to be a growing experience for both of us. What I didn’t expect was what that growth would look and feel like. And I was especially unprepared for how much I would learn about her in the process.

Playing sports makes people vulnerable. If they play with every ounce of energy and emotion that they have, they leave the field, or the court, or the rink completely spent.

Playing goalie makes people even more vulnerable. It takes a special kind of character to put yourself on the line between the other team and the goal they are shooting toward.

It takes self-confidence, focus, fearlessness and strength.

I’m not a good goalie. My daughter…well, she is a good goalie.

It’s not just that she has some physical skill. What I learned about my daughter this weekend is that she has a focus and an intensity that keeps her present in a potentially stress-filled situation. She has a calm presence and a confidence I wasn’t even aware she had.

Here she is….the tiny little goalie at center-ice

She remained poised through the weekend, and I was fascinated watching this side of her emerge.

I loved too, the role I got to play as “Haley’s Mom.”

Because she has additional equipment to put on, I get to be in the locker-room with the team as they prep for practices and games. By the end of the weekend, the entire team would yell when I entered, “Hi, Haley’s mom!” and I would reply, “Hi, Haley’s teammates!”

I helped to tie player’s skates, pull on jerseys, tighten equipment and give fist bumps as they waited.  It was a connection to this special group of girls that I hadn’t anticipated…All because my daughter is the goalie.

Some additional fun photos of the girls:

Painting nails between games

Watching intermission entertainment at the U of M vs. UMD women's hockey game

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other places of inspiration for growth I’ve found this week:

Mamawolfe shared yet another inspirational link about taking teenagers to a soup kitchen.

This video shows a birthday wish created by a woman’s dying husband. (get kleenex for this one) It’s a reminder to love completely, every chance you get.

Have any other inspirational growing stories you want to share? Email me the link or send me the photos of where you grow: You can email me  choosingtogrow@meaganfrank.com or post your story on my Facebook page.

Happy Growing!

To learn more about Meagan Frank, you can visit her at her website:  www.meaganfrank.com