Those who know me know that I’m a hockey mom at heart. All of my kids have played and having a daughter in the net for years is the cause of most of my grey hair. So of course I was thrilled when I realized that Wichita Falls had a Junior A team with the NAHL, the Wichita Falls Wildcats. 

Last winter, I started training the Wildcat Godmother (Bigg calls her The Godmother because of the string of boys who come show their respect after each game) and enjoyed her stories of being a seasonal hockey mom. I thought it may be a lot of fun to have a hockey kid but I was concerned about our cozy (i.e. small) home and lack of fancy living. Last summer, she finally talked me into filling out a housing application to start the process, thinking that I’d still have time to think about it.  

We brought the paperwork to the office where the new coaching staff were still getting settled and met one of the assistant coaches who was from Wisconsin so it was fun to talk some mid-west before getting down to business. Rumor had it that there were four players from Minnesota so I (not really) jokingly told him that I had two requirements: A) give me a Minnesota boy since I already speak the language and B) don’t give me some skinny little douchebag  player who doesn’t want to eat. I don’t know if that’s the first time a potential housing mom said the word douchebag to him but he was quick to pick up on my personality and we got along great all year. (There was a prank incident which scared the ever living out of him and had me and “the kid” rolling for a while but there were no hard feelings…as far as I know.)

It turns out handing in the “application” in Wildcat language is the same as “here’s your boy.” I was told that my 6’5”, 240# Minnesooootan would be showing up in a week.  Giddyup, here we go. “The Kid” rolled in with his dad, plopped his stuff down in his room, curled up with Preacher and quickly became a comfortable part of the household. 

Though it seems like only a few weeks have passed since he got here, it’s actually been over 7 months. We all watched some great games; some not so great games; some great fights (the kid  included); some not so great fights (the kid not included); but overall we had a whole lot of fun and zero drama from my boy so we’ll call it a success. I had to bite my tongue at times when he’d talk about the “training” they did at the globogym but my job with him was temp mom, not strength coach.

In about 36 hours, he’ll head back North and not having that Minnesota car parked in front of the house every time I pull up is going to take some getting used to.  I assume we’ll meet again, I always do which helps me get through hated goodbyes, I just don’t know when. In the mean time there’s always Facebook and Draw Something, but we’ll miss him for sure. It was great being a hockey mom again and “having” a forward instead of a goalie was FAR more enjoyable! When I have moments of missing the kid, I’ll have Bigg put on his Eddy jersey and take a whiff of his gym bag, which by the way, is no match for a hockey player’s equipment bag. Heh. Happy Monday.

A very special thank you to Troy Young for his wonderful pictures of Eddy and all of the players throughout the season. We all benefit from his great work. Thanks Troy!