All it takes...

"When you've reached the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."

~ Thomas Jefferson

You know those times, when you've reached your breaking point and absolutely nothing could possibly make your life any worse? We've all had them. The moments when we break down and cry over the stupidest things, like dropping a box of pins or burning dinner. Maybe it's just girls who do this, boys probably just punch things.

Anyways, in this moment, what does it take to turn it all around? Does it have to be something big, like winning the lottery? (BTW - I won $10 the other day) Or can it be the smallest gesture, a smile, a pat on the back...

I'm not having a rough time, at least I don't think I am. (Now that I've said that, I am probably going to get railroaded tomorrow) But I'll admit I didn't feel like things were great. No need to get into specifics, but I just felt like something was missing. Maybe a lot of things. Probably a lot of things. Yet, I still felt stretched, doing too much in too little time (god damn Easter baking...). All I needed was to get to this weekend. Yes, it was a long weekend, but that's not what made the difference.

Once a year, a fantastic group of people trek up from Portland and we all get together and kick ass on the ice. Ok, last year we didn't kick so much ass, but this year we were awesome, to say the least. We play in a coed tournament in Coquitlam and it's a blast. I can't express how much fun I had and how refreshing it was, at least for me. And it's not the winning, or even the hockey that does it. It's the people. They make me smile, laugh, celebrate....all the things that you should do daily.

Even if we lost, it still would have been the best weekend in a long time. And that is saying a lot, because this weekend was trying! The wheel fell off my truck, luckily right by my house and not on the highway where I was headed. This was my breaking point. I pulled over, got out and saw my tire. It was angled at about 30 degrees, jammed into the wheel well. Oddly enough, I had JUST has this checked on Monday and was told that it was fine. I went into my house and just started freaking out. What if I had been on the highway? I could have died... In reality, I wasn't on the highway, so I tried not to put much thought into what could have been. Should I call a tow truck? My mechanic? My boyfriend? (oh, no, wait, single...right....damn) I called my mom. Moms always know what to do. Her thoughts were pretty in line with mine, leave it on the side of the road until other people (her and my dad) were around to help figure out what to do and take my dad's car in the mean time. By the way, as soon as I started talking to my mom, I dropped my box of pins and burst into tears. It was pretty pathetic. Once I recovered, I moved my gear into my dad's car.

Now the fun thing with my dad's car is that there is only one FOB to disarm the alarm system. Naturally, he took it with him to the island. So, my options were to either not lock the car, or deal with the alarm until I could manually shut it off, once inside the car. I went with option B, because I felt that facing the embarrassment of my alarm going off was a far cheaper price to pay than buying my dad a new GPS system and probably some other stuff he has hidden in his car. Luckily, I didn't have to experience this too often, I think 4 times in total.

So, the car problem was pretty much solved, so, as traumatized as I was, I was feeling a bit better. Off to hockey I go, only to get hit by a train. Not a real train, but some jerk on the ice who thought there was a Stanley Cup at the end of this tournament. I, or rather he, rattled my brains a little. I went into the boards, fairly awkwardly, smacked my head first, then my shoulder and hip. Put my new helmet to the test, I'd say that it works well enough. It took me a moment to get my head on straight, get up and skate to the bench, where I almost dropped my pins again. I don't like it when I get hurt and on my count, that was two near death experiences in one day.

I reached my breaking point around noon on Saturday with my phone call break down to my mother, but by the end of the first game, I felt on top of the world again. A dazed, spinning world, but I was still on top of it. We won our game, that jerk got a penalty, and I got free potato skins! The next game was a nail biter, but I scored a freakishly good goal with 2 minutes left to put us into the lead and the finals. It was awesome, or so I am told, I didn't even see it go in. I actually heard it hit the post and automatically assumed it didn't go it. Oh yeah, and then I won a bamboo blanket for being the game MVP.

In the beginning....worst day ever. In the end.....best day ever. What turned it around? The hug I was greeted with at the rink. A small, tiny gesture that turned my world right side up. That's all it took. And that's all I could ask for at that moment. Just a hug. The smiles I got later also helped and the free potato skins, but it all started with the hug.

Maybe if everyday was filled with laughter, smiles, hugs and celebrating the small things, we wouldn't get to the breaking point so easily. What does the end of the rope do when you are not hanging onto it?

~Bean