Thankful

Welcome back to another episode of A'lil Hoohaa's monthly photo blogging challenge. 

This month’s theme was "Thankful".

While I definitely have a lot to be thankful for, I found it surprisingly hard to come up with matching pictures. The month actually began with a streak of bad luck. Within less than two weeks, I broke off a piece of my molar which consisted mostly of an old amalgam filling. I was lucky to get a dentist’s appointment quickly, only to be back there again shortly afterwards with another issue involving the same tooth.

On a Monday, while packing for practice, Colin noticed that his hockey helmet was damaged. And Monday is a problem because every sports specialty store is closed. A general sports equipment shop tried to help, but the helmet was beyond repair. Two weeks later, his stick broke as well.

Then my ATM card was confiscated, not because of insufficient funds, but due to a technical problem with the machine. Without cash and without a card, life becomes unpleasant very quickly. Calling AI-controlled customer service was, of course, no help either, and I had to “press 1 to speak to a human,” along with the disclaimer “Please note that this call will be charged.” Is this really what life looks like today?

Despite all that, I am very thankful for access to both medical and dental care. I am also deeply grateful for our financial situation, a big dental bill, a new helmet, and a replacement hockey stick won’t throw us off track.

And that brings me to my main point: I am thankful for hockey.

I have always mentioned it to Colin’s teachers whenever I had to pick him up early for practice: hockey is a school of life. Children learn how to fit into an organisation, be part of a team, get along with teammates, opponents, referees, and coaches, take care of their equipment, and juggle homework, training, and games.

As a nice side effect, it’s also good for my marriage. My husband works a lot, and Colin’s games are often the only reason he takes a break from his business commitments. Over all these years, we have hardly ever missed a match.

Depending on the destination, away games can be very time-consuming. But they also take us to wonderful places worth seeing like Thun, a picturesque town in the Bernese Oberland.

Even a normal weekday training session keeps us away from home for a good five hours: driving there, warm-up, getting changed, actual ice time, shower, something to eat, then the drive home. It’s all a question of organisation and attitude. Four or five years ago, when everything was closed due to the pandemic and the kids were still allowed to train, I had nowhere to wait but in a freezing car. These days, I am especially grateful that we are back to normal life, and that I can enjoy a delicious Poké Bowl in a warm, slightly quirky place with working Wi-Fi at my favourite spot.

It felt like it rained every single day this month. Nevertheless, I forced myself to go for a walk once. The fresh air, nature, and the chance to clear my head did me good. Sometimes, daily obligations take over so completely that you forget to do something for your own well-being.

This month, my two high school friends and I also managed to meet up again. I invited them to our house and cooked for them. For dessert, we had these cute reindeer chocolate chai cupcakes.

Both of them lost their mothers in recent years, which makes me especially grateful that both of my parents are still in good health. This year, my whole family was reunited once again, as my brother, who lives in Israel, came to visit. In the picture, you can see his son Neil sitting next to me. He has already completed his mandatory military service and is a free man now. Since my mum is the family photographer, she isn’t in the picture, of course. It’s a bonus photo anyway, as I didn’t take it myself.

And that brings me to the end of this post. I hope my five pictures convey what being thankful means to me.

As always, don’t forget to check out the posts from my fellow bloggers participating in this month’s challenge!