Kyle and I often disagree on “matters of perspective” because I am of the opinion that the perspective that matters the most is my own.  Our favorite topic to debate is time; specifically, Kyle feels I should align with society’s expectations of time – for example, if a hockey game starts at 4:00 PM, I should be at the game by 3:59 PM; while I say that while the game may start at 4:00 PM, whatever time I arrive is when the game truly BEGINS.  After 20 years of marriage, we have yet to come to a consensus on this matter.

This weekend, for only the second time ever in his hockey career, I took my fifteen-year-old to his “away” hockey games in Minnesota by myself.  Usually, when Fifteen travels for hockey, all four of us go and spend several VERY cozy days in a single hotel room together.  Sometimes, though, Eleven has his own activity, and so one parent goes one direction and the other parent goes in the other.  Historically, Kyle has gone in the direction of Fifteen’s hockey team because he has either been the coach or the Fifteen’s preferred parent (that was a sad year for poor ol’ mom).

This time, however, Kyle was not the coach for Fifteen’s team, but he WAS the coach for Eleven’s baseball team…and Eleven had baseball back in Grand Forks.  Not only did Eleven have baseball, but he also had a long-planned date with his dad at a Weird Al concert, also in Grand Forks.

“I guess it’s just me and you, babes,” I told Fifteen as we evaluated the schedule for the weekend.

“Sounds good,” said Fifteen, nonplussed.

“Maybe I can drive you down, take you to the games, and drive back,” Kyle said to the child who inherited his mother’s sense of time management.

“What?  Why?”  I asked.  “I can get him to the games.”

“On time?”  Kyle said, after a pause.

“Yes, I can get him to the games on time,” I said, annoyed.

“With his gear?”  Kyle asked.  In addition to being the king of standard time, Kyle is our family’s equipment manager.

“That’s his problem,” I said, pointing at Fifteen.  “His gear is his responsibility.”

“Okay,” Fifteen said, still nonplussed.

“We will leave at 8:00 AM,” I told everyone.

We left at 8:45 AM on Friday morning, which was 8:00 AM in Amanda Time.  We pulled into Minnesota with enough of a window for me to get a pedicure and Fifteen to eat his third lunch of the day before the game.

“Are you on your way?”  Kyle texted when we were, in fact, on our way to the rink.  I didn’t respond until after Fifteen had been deposited inside – five minutes earlier than his coach’s requested arrival time.

“Already dropped him off,” I typed back saucily.

The boys won the game.  Fifteen and I went out to dinner with my parents to celebrate both the hockey victory and the Hockey Mom victory.

The next morning, Fifteen and I stopped for Dunkin’ Donuts and still made it to the rink five minutes early once more.

“Good morning!”  Kyle texted me while we were in line at Dunkin’.

“Good morning!”  I texted back later after pulling into a parking spot at the rink.

One of the other dads walked up and leaned against my car.

“Two games in a row,” he complimented, gesturing to my car’s clock.

“What can I say?”  I said, patting myself on the back.

My phone buzzed.

“I need my skates sharpened,” Fifteen texted.

“Crap,” I said, because I had never gotten his (goalie) skates sharpened.

After the game, I went up to the pro shop in the rink.

“Do you sharpen skates?”  I called to the guy standing in the office portion of the shop.

“Yes,” he said, slightly surprised by the question.

“Great,” I said.  I thought for a moment.  “Do you sharpen goalie skates?”

He also thought for a moment.

“Yeeesss,” he said, slowly.

“Are you saying it like that because it’s an obvious answer?”  I asked.

“I’ve never done goalie skates before,” he said.  “But we have the attachment.  I can figure it out.”

We both blinked at each other.

“I think I’ll see if I can find somewhere else,” I said.  “If you don’t mind.”

“Okay,” he said.  “But I can do it.”

“I believe you can,” I said.  “But my husband isn’t here and it’s only me.”

“Oh,” he said, nodding knowingly.  “Good call.”

It took three phone calls and a drive to Albertville, but we got the skates sharpened.  We got the skates sharpened, and we had lunch, and we went back to the hotel so Fifteen could have a snooze, and then I got him back up and fed again and back over to the rink on time.

“I’m really proud of myself,” I told the other moms and dads.

“You should be,” my mom friend said.

“Tomorrow is going to be the real test,” a dad said.  “It’s a 7:20 AM arrival.”

“Prepare to be blown away,” I told him.

That night, Fifteen and I tucked into our respective beds, scrolling our phones.

“We should go to bed,” I told him.  “We have to get up at the crack of dawn.”

“Okay,” Fifteen said.

Neither of us put our phones down.

A half-hour later, Kyle called.

“Shoot, sorry,” he said, not sounding sorry at all.  “I just realized you were probably sleeping since you have to get up so early tomorrow.”

“Yes, we were sleeping,” I said, making the “cut” motion with my hand to Fifteen, who looked panicked and quickly put his phone down and his head on the pillow even though Kyle couldn’t see us.

Not only did we arrive at the rink seven minutes before the designated time, we even packed up the whole hotel room AND got breakfast beforehand.

My phone rang.

“Early again,” I told Kyle.

 “That’s great!”  Kyle said.  “Although, some of those kids get there an hour before they need to be.  Technically, being early to hockey is being on time.”

“I guess that’s a matter of perspective,” I said.

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I couldn’t think of a photo for this story so I thought some of you UND/NHL Hockey fans would get a kick out of the one above. The (big boy) player on the left is Drake Caggiula and the player on the right is Hayden Shaw. Fifteen is wearing the Jets jersey.

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This week on North Dakota Today we talked about Wendy Nelson, my Nice Person of the Week, as well as some lovely facts about one of our state’s loveliest flowers. (Valley News Live)

Did you want to say “Oh, fer CUTE” today? Here you go. (KFYR TV)

Fun fact: Did you know that North Dakota is home to the straightest highway in America? (World Atlas)

NDSU’s football team switched conferences and kicked off their first season with a victory. (ESPN)

This isn’t nice news, but John was such a nice, nice guy that I wanted to share his obit with all of you. (Grand Forks Herald)

Also not nice news – but if you read my Herald column last week about North Dakota’s state archaeologists, you know what they are working on right now! (Valley News Live)

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