Arizona Hockey Union

 

This is a picture of my son’s hockey team before the game yesterday that our team manager emailed me to share. She suggested that I post this on my site. Even though it was the 10th anniversary, we had a game to attend because our boys had a game to play. And so we hockey parents tried to go about our day as normal as we possibly could knowing that scores of people across our great nation were tearfully mourning the losses that occurred ten years ago. As we cheered on our kids who absolutely love the game of hockey, our hearts were heavy, but we were reminded to smile ever so often when we looked at our kids’ sticks. Take a look at the picture to see what I mean…

 

With every shot and pass, the red, white and blue tape reminded us to celebrate the perseverance of our country. And to remember what I had printed on my newborn daugther’s birth announcement who was born just several weeks after 9/11….her announcement simply said, “A Symbol of Hope”…and those red, white and blue hockey sticks are just that.

 

 

These teenage boys were mere toddlers 10 years ago. I remember being so thankful that Disney Channel was resuming their regular programming so I could put my little innocent boy in front of the one channel that wasn’t showing the horror unfold as it happened. Disney Channel helped me shelter my preschooler that scary day. Weeks away from having my second child, I had just left my job as a producer for Good Morning Arizona, so I was home watching my friends Dan and Tara report the news. I’ll never forget how their expressions changed as they started reporting the awful events of the morning. I tearfully wondered what kind of world I was bringing my new baby into.

And now that newborn baby is a tween and that little toddler is a teenager. They know all about September 11th and it is in their history books. My oldest will be leaving us in just a few short years to go out on his own. His journey, as he leaves the ice rink and our home behind to venture out into the world, is our symbol of hope. Our children embrace life with the knowledge of 9/11, but with the hope of the future.

 

 

I love that the photo captures not only their USA colored hockey sticks, but their giant smiles, too.  So as we move forward after a very emotional 10th anniversary weekend, I look one more time at this photo of my son’s hockey team and their freshly-wrapped sticks. The boys taped their sticks yesterday morning to pay respect to the victims, families, fire fighters, first responders, the in-flight heroes and the re-builders. Like all of these great people that we honored all weekend, they and our fresh-faced children, are a symbol of hope. Hope, faith and hard work will continue to carry us through, as our country continues to rebuild the fallen towers, the economy and the hearts that have been broken on, and in the years since, September 11th, 2001