Family Day 2015 & A Lil Look Back

For anyone who knows me... this will come with no surprise but has been a pretty great start to 2015 thus far and I continue to be blown away at how fortunate I am.  Family Day may be the greatest new addition to our Holidays here in BC, I think it was a few years ago that it was implemented but love that it is an opportunity for people to stop... reflect... appreciate their family and friends (as we all, so often consider our friends a part of our Family).  Thanksgiving being another one of those days that brings reflection to our lives.  

This year I was away with friends for Family Day weekend and kind of let it slip my mind a bit, as far as my own family.  Luckily I pester my family often daily if not at least weekly with letting them know that I love them, and how much they mean to me.  

Lately I have been sharing with a lot of people something I did a "few" years back.  For Christmas one year I wrote a letter to each person in my family, my Mom, Dad and my 3 older brothers Dorian, Justin & Aiden.  I am beyond lucky to have the best family in the world, so loving, so supportive and well... amazing.  For that Christmas I wanted to put into words how much each of them mean to me and some of those reasons why.  I was worried that saying "I love you" or "Goodnight, love you" every single day, to end every single phone call or before we went to bed each night may be taken as just words we said.  I knew they weren't but I wanted to ensure they all knew.  

Oddly enough in my attempt to organize a few things on my computer and in my emails I came across the letter I had written.  Turns out... it was 13 years ago.  So, with a few photos below, I would like to share this letter, there was a personal paragraph to each of them of what they meant to me and why they meant so much but the part of their letter that was to the whole family will be what I am sharing.   Fun to read again as the emotion & feelings have not changed but I can feel in re-reading this my age at the time, hard to express in writing but makes me smile :) 

Family Hockey Pic back probably from around 1989 or 1990

Dylan, Emmett & I  (Feb 2015)

My Mom, nephew Oli & I (Around April or May 2014)

Christmas 2002

Well, this might seem not like me but it is something that I want to make sure you all know. I know I always say “I love you.” But sometimes I am not sure if it may be taken as just something that is always said, so I am writing this to let you know that it is definitely not just routine. I love you guys so much, much more then words can say but I will do my best. Everyday when I wake up the first thing that I think of is how incredibly lucky I am, how can I not smile when I have a family like you. You are ALWAYS there for me, no matter what. I could phone any of you at any time and I know that whatever I need help with or if I just want to talk you are always there for me. If I am away for hockey, when I get back there are always messages seeing how it was and if I had a good time. After exams or my injuries (lately) you always make sure to ask how I am and that things are going well for me. I think that I used to take for granted just how awesome you guys are. I am so proud to have you all, I mean having the best brothers in the world and the greatest parents in the world. People always comment on the relationship that I have between my family and I guess I haven’t always realized that not all families have what we do, I couldn’t imagine not being able to tell you everything or being afraid of what you’ll think or afraid that you’ll be disappointed, that is never the case you are always there for me. Writing this isn’t the easiest thing either but not everything will be easy and thanks to you if I ever have trouble I know I will have 5 amazing people right there with me helping me. Thankyou! The main reason for writing this is, is because I know that I am not always the most expressive person in general and I may not find it easy to always share my feelings but I want you to know that I love you guys so much and I want to thank you for always being so amazing to me, I know that no matter what you will all play an incredibly huge part in my life as you already have. So for now, Goodnight, love you and sleep safely!

“Harsh words kill, kind words kindle, but a word withheld a dream may dwindle.”

“The best things in life aren’t things.” Art Buchwald.

“To love is to admire with the heart; while to admire is to love with the mind.” Theophile Goutier

“So tell the one you love, just what your thinking of; if tomorrow never comes.”
Garth Brooks

“Talk not of wasted affection, for affection is never wasted.” H.W. Longfellow

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength; while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” Lao Tzu

“Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.” Robert A. Heinlein

“Don’t cry because it’s over; smile because it happened.”

“Never deny what your heart truly feels.” ‘The Mask of Zorro’

“Remember ‘What’s Important’” Pat Norlin

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I share this to remind myself to never take for granted the amazing people in my life and to each and every day or opportunity to tell those people just how much they mean to you and what those little thing are that mean the most.  

Corny

Corny... this word is one that I use to describe myself, my actions and much of what I say.   This weekend I was out for dinner and Canucks game with a very close friend of mine, and old teammate Mo, from back in my UBC days.  We were catching up on life, work and all the funtivities that we've been up to.  I prefaced something, as I always do, with "This might sound corny...", Mo cut me off to say that "corny" is one of the things people love most about me.  We continued on our catch up, enjoyed a great dinner and headed off to the game.

This small statement and comment from Mo has been on my mind now for the past 24 hours and I am certain she has no idea what that meant to me.  All of a sudden, something I constantly say about myself, and to be honest usually with a bit of a negative connotation to it, hence the need to tell people the statement or action is "corny", all of a sudden her acknowledgement of this just gave me a complete 360 on myself.  Being "corny" is absolutely something that I am, and that I am OK with, actually more than OK, I wouldn't want to be any other way.

Google Definition of Corny:

corn-y
adjective
informal
     trite, banal, or mawkishly sentimental

So... this might sound "mawkishly sentimental" but I am proud of the fact that I am caring, that I get excited when I see a stranger hold the door for someone, or that I want to cheer on random strangers I see out running because I am proud of them for being active and healthy, or that I feel incredibly invested in wanting someone to make the bus when they are running to catch it (and often celebrate a lil when they do :).

I want to thank my friend for highlighting this for me, and once again I am shown just how impactful a few words can be if we are open to hearing them, and if we choose to receive and truly embrace a complement that just moments before was potentially suppressed.

Is there something you admire or appreciate in a friend that you may not have shared with them yet?  The first person that comes to mind, stop what you are doing and fire them a text, email or quick message.  So often things cross our minds and yet we don't take the step to tell those we care the most about.  I guarantee you will make someone's day.

We could all use a little more corny in our lives!

Canucks Game 1 vs. Hawks - April 13th

What a wonderful day!! Got to sleep in a bit, work from the comfort of my new place in Vancouver and get a little more organized and unpacked.

Today was game 1 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs and I was very fortunate to get to go to the game. Me and my friend Kirsten Dixon have had tickets for about 5 years now and decided to go to Game 1 together. All day I could feel the energy in the city. I didn't even have to leave my place in Kits to feel the excitement. It did hep a

bit that I've been learning how to "Tweet", didn't think they would ever get me... but they did. So Twitter kept me in the know of all the talks around town and around the league.

Being a game day, I thought it was important to stick to routines. Had my super salad, pre game nap and then got ready and headed off for downtown. Wasn't the most sunny day out but was one of those days that nothing could stand in my way of being happy.

I decided I would walk from my place to downtown... wasn't sure how long it would take but made it to Pender and Howe in 1 hour and 1 minute... :-) And that included a Starbucks pick up along the way. (Picture was along my walk from home towards Kits beach, one of my favourite views in the world)

Looking out over the Burrard Street bridge on my walk downtown, man I love the water, and the city, and the mountains and... :-)

I was a bit of a dork/super fan wearing my Nucks Jersey, scarf, smile and holding Starbucks. Does life get much better then that? Really?

Anyhow, I continued on downtown and met up with couple of friends Kat and Blake for dinner!!

Just making sure they were ready for the pic... and yes I put this one in instead of the actual pic, I like it, feels like teamwork if you ask me :-)

Then off to the game, watched the warm up from down below, got some fun pics up close and personal. Lets see if you can guess who my favourite Canuck is...

Energy in the rink was also incredible... could sense the nerves of some of the players, feel the confidence of others, the fans & the city. Pretty fun thing to be a part of.

Kirsten loving life being at Game 1!!! Both of us with our new scarves!! Dan, focused and ready to take down the Hawks!!! Proud fellow Smitherite!!

Definitely 2 of the most wonderful people I know!! Art and Marge Buchanan from Smithers, they were my employers at the movie theatre, my friends and consider them family!!! More amazing people I am lucky to have in my life and that I am thankful for!!

Well here is my coles notes version on the recap as it's getting late and sleep is needed. 1st period... this team is one that I believe noone can touch, they looked absolutely phenomenal out there, so poised, confident and making plays that honestly blew me away. The pure talent that these players have is absolutely incredible. What a fun team to watch. Samuelson stood out to me a ton, seemed to have an extra gear that when he wanted to turn it on, the Hawks had NO chance. Then there's Lou... the toe save in the first... speechless... and that's hard to do to me. I sat there with my mouth open, in awe... Wow was he on his game tonight or what!!

It was a high tempo, very physical game. I think that is where the Nucks had them, they were all throwing their bodies around without fear. Kes had a great block, luckily nothing hurts in the playoffs :-)

Come the 2nd and 3rd, some people feel like the Canucks were outplayed. For sure it wasn't like the first but I think it was smart, they were up 2-0, no you don't want to sit back but definitely play it smart. They moved to a 2-3 forecheck which was extremely successful, not always the most exciting for the fans but at the end of the day the W is what matters.

I feel as though Kane's mullet might have gotten in his eyes tonight...

Alright, off to bed for me, but thank-you Canucks for a great game and I look forward to the next couple months!! Or as my brother Dorian said after the first tonight, "47 more periods like that and we're set"

Happy Wednesday everyone and have a great sleep!!

Clarkson Cup Heading to Barrie - Feb 5th 2011

Clarkson Cup heading to Barrie

Clarkson Cup heading to Barrie. Barrie will play home to the biggest annual event in women’s hockey. The Clarkson Cup will be contested at The Barrie Molson Centre from March 24 to 27. Barrie Mayor Jeff Lehman drops the puck for Haleigh Callison, left, and Olympian Sami Jo Small during the event's announcement. Stan Howe photo

Barrie will play home to the biggest annual event in women’s hockey. The Clarkson Cup will be contested at The Barrie Molson Centre from March 24 to 27. Barrie Mayor Jeff Lehman drops the puck for Haleigh Callison, left, and Olympian Sami Jo Small during the event's announcement.

BC Hockey Now Article - Feb 2011

CDN Women’s Hockey League Player Profile: Smithers, B.C.’S Haleigh Callison
Wednesday, February 2, 2011 / By Hockey Now staff / The CWHL is a professionally-run women’s hockey league dedicated to raising the profile of women’s hockey while providing a place where some of the best female hockey players can train and compete. Haleigh Callison grew up in Smithers, B.C., going on to play five years of varsity for the UBC Thunderbirds before taking her place on defence for Toronto of the CWHL. What got you started in hockey? I grew up in Smithers, B.C. and I have three older brothers who all played. Being the baby of the family I wanted to be just like my older brothers. I would be at the rink nearly every day watching them play and practice, so it was a given that as soon as I could stand, I was on skates. That being said then, who did you look up to growing up with the sport? No question, I looked up to my brothers through sport and in life. Also, my parents are incredibly hard workers and did everything to allow the four of us to play the sport we loved. They were always there to take us as well as many of our teammates on road trips. What is one of your most memorable hockey moments? One of my most memorable moments from playing hockey in Smithers would be when I was in Bantam, my team had an opportunity to go to Wolfsburg, Germany and play in a tournament as well as see the area for two weeks. Traveling all the way with friends I have played with since I was young was a pretty amazing experience. How did the B.C. hockey community help you get to where you are now? Growing up, I attended all the Team BC tryouts and camps as well as getting short listed as one of the top nine in BC as prospects for 2010. BC Best Ever is a great program and with the number of females playing in our province, I am sure it is getting even better. As far as my B.C. community of Smithers goes, they have always been incredibly supportive and I was extremely lucky growing up to get to play with so many great guys. Playing with boys when you are usually the only girl on the team could have been a difficult thing; however, every single guy I played with was always respectful, helped push me to be better and treated me just like anyone else on the team. Who is your favourite B.C.-born player? Hands down, it would be Dan Hamhuis. Not just because he is from Smithers and an incredible hockey player but ultimately for the person he is off the ice. Dan is one of the nicest players you’ll ever meet, gives his time to the community, super dedicated to his training and is just a down to earth, very positive person. What is your favourite place to play in B.C.? To be honest, my favourite place to play in BC is any rink where I have friends and family. I was fortunate to have my three brothers in Vancouver with me when I started playing for UBC. Having them in the stands is something that cannot be replaced. Also, it was close enough that my parents would come down from Smithers for a few weekends each season. Visit www.cwhl.ca for more information.

Burlington, Ontario 2011

Well, this has been a REALLY long time since I have written anything. Not sure what has inspired me to get back at it... and who knows how long it will last. Possibly was triggered as I was at the Burlington Montreal game today and the refs were ABSOLUTELY embarrassing and I felt the need to share with them my thoughts... and here I am... figured there is a better way to share thoughts and likely in more of a positive light as well.

I am currently living in Burlington, Ontario playing hockey in the CWHL (www.cwhl.ca) for Toronto. It's been an exciting and yet challenging year but that is how life should be. I have met some incredible people in the past 5 months, people who I instantly connected with and believe to be life long friends... whether they like it or not and some who it has taken a few months to really get to know. That is also a great thing about life, I love that I am presented with people who are challenging to me, people who may not be easy for me to be around for whatever reason. Those are the people and the situations that I believe will help me grow most as a person. Makes me think about my actions, my views, thoughts, everything and realize that there are soooo many people out there with completely different views on life. How great is that? So much to learn.

Alright, it's 2am... as always I'm up too late but look forward to putting down more thoughts and experiences in the days and months to come.

Must also make a note that my team beat Montreal on Saturday!!! Only 2nd game they have lost all year!! I am sooo proud of my team and it was one of the most exciting games I have seen/been a part of. Nice work guys!!! Love, hugs and high fives, Hails

Memmingen Deutsche Pokal Champs to Visiting Family in Sweden

2009 makes history as the first time ever for a German womens team to win both the German Championship as well as the German Cup and I was lucky to be a part of it.  I went from a season back home where I didn’t win a single game (but loved every second of it, why wouldn’t I??  And for anyone who knows me, you know I am dead serious), to making history!!  How fun is that??  Was pretty special too as Aiden was there in Berlin for our last game and he got to watch us guarantee ourselves the German Championship after the scores were already in from Planneg’s game we ended up winning 9-0 to solidify the title by 6 goals I believe. 

The celebrating started by champagne on the ice (which to be honest I really didn’t know how to celebrate, you might think that sounds weird but I am completely serious, I felt weird, happy but weird).  So pictures, champagne, crazy German songs, pictures, more champagne and more crazy German songs which lead us to the dressing room for more pictures, champagne and crazy German songs.  Let me catch you up to where I was at this point.  I ate dinner about 3 hours before the game, maybe a small snack leading up and then onto the ice for 3 hours of hockey and then right into the booze.  Ya… you see where this is going, also for anyone who knows me I am a bit of lightweight.  So in goes the champagne, shots, beer, shots, shots, more shots, a couple more beer and well about 8 more shots.  Germany is the devil with their little bottles of alcohol, no joke even typing that was difficult for me as I get the mental image and clear smell of what I consumed that night (and that was over a month ago). I might have also had a bite of someone’s burger but no more then 2 bites tops.  All night I sort of felt like I had a good angel in one ear telling me not to drink too much, to stop with the shots and in the other ear someone handing me more and more and more of those bottles of awfulness.  Turns out the good angel was Aiden and the bad was Steffi and Sandra (and likely the rest of my team as well). I am told that I was outside waiting for the cab to pick us up and I would finish a shot and smash the tiny glass bottle on the ground (also extremely out of character as I am often the person picking up random pieces of garbage on the ground as I can’t understand how people can’t hold onto it for at most 5 minutes before seeing a garbage to put it in… whoops).  Night didn’t last long, took cab to the bar, threw up when we got there but in the cab and Ms. Jenny Gartner, incredibly kind person, cleaned up the cab and saved me from the fine.  Then Aiden had to take me home, just keeping in line with the majority of our family trips.  I think it is (well my excuse is) that when I have someone there I know will take care of me I sort of turn off completely.  ….not a great idea.  (Cuba, Vegas and Berlin, just ask one of my brothers).

We had a weekend off before heading for Memmingen to win the German Cup and my cousin Kelly arrived in this time, also an interesting story which will be more funny for all parties in about 3. 5 years.  One sentence version is that we don’t really like Italy, their dogs and their unacceptance of codeine and other doctor prescribed medication, or was it milk bones??  Onto brighter times, Aiden was also in Memmingen to watch us win the cup then we were back in Berlin with our skates hung up for the season.  Crazy how fast the season went by, from my first game over here in Prague to Memmingen, on one hand feels like maybe 2 months, and on the other I feel like I have done soooo much that could have been here 3 years. 

Shortly after my return to Berlin and a bit of celebrating with Nina, Kelly’s friend Tara arrived and we instantly adopted her into our family as our cousin and looking back now even after traveling together we would like to keep her in the family.  (What can we say, she’s a great cook!!  Kidding, well actually she is a great cook but we’d keep her anyways).

Aiden, Tara and I flew to Stockholm to, re-meet in my case and meet in Aiden and Tara’s case, the family.  Anders, being the unbelievably kind person that he is came and met us at the airport that is at least an hour out of Stockholm and once again welcomed us wholeheartedly with Bodiel and Philip into their home.  What an amazing 5 days we had there, so much visiting, cooking, huge meals, suffle and lots of wine.  We enjoyed our time with them soo much, could have sat at the dinner table for hours (actually we did) just talking and bantering, we cannot wait to have them in Canada so we can even somewhat repay their great hospitality.  We also got to meet one of Bodiel;s brother and his partner.  They were such a blast as well, and their beautiful dog Snow White!!  Also need to note that Aiden, Tara and I spent the good part of a day in Ikea but not just Ikea, THE Ikea, the first Ikea, the head office of Ikea.  Pretty cool, we know!

After Stockholm Aiden and I took a train down to Malmo and Tara was off to Prague where her family comes from.  A funny story, well funny for you and not so much for Aiden and I, while waiting for our train to Malmo we are on the platform and all we hear is this poor cat in it’s cage meowing and meowing, I can’t possibly put into written words the sound this cat was making.  It was a mix between a 2 year old girl’s scream and the noise Jim Carrey makes as the most annoying noise in the world on Dumb and Dumber.  Take the time to think about this… mix them… really get this in your head.  K, so this cat, Aiden and I look at eachother praying that the cat is NOWHERE near where we are sitting on the train and well as the Law of Attraction proves the cat was right beside us, right across the isle and she did not stop for the ENTIRE trip to Malmo, they got off a stop before we did… it’s a 4 hour train approximately.  So not only that we realize that hmm that’s weird there seems to be a lot of dogs in our cabin of the train.  Ya… they put us in the animal section of the train, honestly I think there were 6 dogs and THE cat, maybe more and I am not exaggerating at all.  Well animal cart aside we arrived to more open arms at the train station.  Johan met us there and took us back to their beautiful apartment in the downtown of Malmo.  We met the rest of the family and were taken to our own apartment that they had arranged for us through Asa’s dance company.  Again, so nice of them. 

We had a fun and tasty pizza dinner with the whole family, met Markus for the first time and Aiden got to meet Holger and Kirsten (what beautiful people).  Went for a nice walk through the city and the parks and learned about lighting, which I now find fascinating as I probably have never stopped to think how a building or street or city or performance was lit and the design behind it. The next day Johan was again an incredible tour guide for us and took us all throughout Malmo, we finished our tour at the Dance studio/company where we were celebrating Asa’s 50^th Birthday, pretty cool there were a lot of important people there and funny cuz each time one of them came in they would tell me in a sort of joking tone that “oh, those people over there are very important” but sort of felt like everyone there was and they all just were pretty down to earth.  We ate about 3 pieces too many of the great cakes that were provided and then found out later there were more for her to take home which we also got to divulge in later that evening.  Choosing a highlight is difficult but for me and Aiden to get to sit in on a dance rehearsal for one of their performances was soooo cool.  We were sitting at the front with the rehearsal manager and got to watch and then hear the breakdown and comments afterwards.  I found it very interesting as within any sport or team there are people who can take criticism well and others who bite back immediately and refuse to believe that what someone saw from the front watching the entire performance was correct.  I know we all have our days but just found it interesting and very fun. 

We stopped by to say our goodbyes and once again were given breakfast (we ate way too much of their food and they were too generous).  Saying goodbye to Holger and Kirsten was pretty special.  Holger made sure that I knew to send all his love to my parents and family back home, and saying how special they are and to make sure to give his love to them.  And also very special Kirsten wanted to make sure that Aiden sent a wedding picture to them after his and Jason’s wedding this summer.  Pretty cool J , still makes me smile and tear up all at the same time.

They walked us to the train station, said our quick good-byes and we were off to Copenhagen for the day.  Going to end this blog here as the scenery in Croatia is too beautiful to be spending my time on the computer.  More to come soon!!!