March 5

On Wednesday, March 1, I celebrated my 61st birthday.  My birthday this year was actually like a Ukrainian wedding...the celebration stretched over several days.  The girls and their husbands had dinner with me on Wednesday evening at Konga Cafe.  It's always a joy to get together with the girls and their husbands.  Their is always laughter, reminiscing, and good conversation.

On Friday, I played hockey, then delivered lunch to Haley at Deslisle Composite School.  Another joy...having Haley teach in the town where I spent most of my teaching career.  Not long ago, Haley was referred to as "Alvin's daughter" and now I am referred to as "Haley's dad".  After lunch, Haley took me on a tour of the school to meet her colleagues and her prized students.  Haley is an incredible person and obviously, an incredible educator.  The girl who wasn't interested in post secondary education has now completed her Bachelor's degree,  a post graduate degree in special education, and now she is working on her Master's degree in Educational Administration.

Mary, my other pride and joy was busy this weekend volunteering as a judge at a cheerleading competition.  She put in some long hours.

Tonight, I met my gang in Warman for our weekly family dinner.  The girls are usually very busy during the week and on weekends so I thank the Lord we have a protected time on Sunday evenings when we can meet.

The plan for this week is to play volleyball tomorrow, hockey on Wednesday, and hockey on Friday.  I am also serving as a presenter at a music workshop in Hepburn on Thursday.  The ukulele man rides again.

In sporting news, I believe I mentioned in an earlier post that I have been accidently placed on the second line of my plus 60 hockey team with the 70 and 80 year olds.  I let the league officials know a mistake had been made.  They said changing the lines would be too difficult so I should just play with  the second line, but don't score 34 goals.  I said that wouldn't be a problem given my limited hockey skills.  I have limited myself to 0.75 goals and 3.0 assists per game just to be decent.  I feel like Wayne Gretzky.  I gain possession of the puck in the offensive zone, then I skate around until my wingers find their way to the scene of the crime.

On Tuesday, February 28, I had an unusual experience.  A film crew from Hockey Night in Canada filmed our game and interviewed players.  The footage will be shown during the upcoming Stanley Cup Playoffs.  An added thrill was a surprise visit from Lord Stanley's Cup...the real thing was brought out on the ice at the end of our game.  I had my picture taken with the mug.  As I wrote on Facebook, I was born in Canada's Hockey Factory (Kelvington), but I was a factory reject.  This is as close to the cup as I'll get.

I recently made arrangements for the internment of Judy's ashes at Woodlawn Cemetery.  A niche in the columbarium holds two urns.  One for Judy and one for Judy when I join her in heaven.  Part of the process is to write a simple epitaph for the plaque that will be place on the niche.  What to write?  What to write?  Ah, I know.  What would Judy say..."It's all good!"