Hello from the friendly skies. This article is being conceived from a very turbulent flight from Denver to Tampa Florida.
It is about simply spending time with Connor and our housemates (more on that in a bit). This is our second trip of the season where it is just the us boys. These trips to me are very special and maybe mean more to me then him.
The first road trip of this hockey season was to Steamboat Springs Colorado. Have you been there? If you have not you should and no, you do not need to be a skier to enjoy the town, it is a place I would highly recommend for a family trip. I know that in a few years our teenagers might not want to spend time with their parents, that is why these trips to me are special.
Even though while in Steamboat Connor did spend time with his teammates at the hotel, it was still a guy’s trip. Please do not get me wrong when I tell you that yes having our ladies on trips has been great. For example, we would make hockey road trips a family affair when the team would play up in the mountains.
One of our first family trips for a hockey weekend was in the town of Breckenridge, the popular places to ski in that area is called Copper Mountain. My wife Ann enjoys cross country skiing so she does her thing while the kids do theirs. Betsy and Becca my bonus daughters did their skiing thing so everyone was happy. My thing? Sitting back in the lounge area kicking it.
While at Copper that day, the kids invaded my space as I was sitting in the lounge. They wanted to bother me for a silly reason, they were hungry. How rude of them, right?
I will NEVER forget (hopefully) the sequence of events. I want to do my best to try and paint the mental picture for you. Here I am sitting at a table. Betsy, Becca are there eating. The table is the size of the lunch table you and I sat at as kids. I am on the opposite side of the girls. Another family sits next to Betsy. The dad strikes up a conversation with Betsy.
Let me tell you something about Betsy, She is SUPER smart. She is wants to be a Physicians Assistant and in my heart of hearts she WILL be.
The dad asks what else they are doing in town. Cue the sappy music!
Betsy tells the dad that they were in town for their “brothers” hockey game. I was so elated when she said “brother” and not “step” brother. That girl is going places. She understands what are family is trying to do and that is not place labels on each other.
As a matter of fact, Ann and I did a family trip for our honeymoon. We went to San Diego as a group and it was interesting putting all 5 of us into one room. Those are still great memories maybe not to the girls when it came to sharing one bathroom.
This Florida journey as I look back (yup, headed back to snowy Colorado) was inspiring because of the dads on the trip. Yes, there are families but many just dads with their sons’. Including my housemates.
This is the second trip with my good friend Nate and his son Gabe. To keep cost down we rented a house for the weekend, and added another father son duo: Dave and his son Arthur.
For some reason my role went from dad to mom, making sure the boys ate and we were on time for the games. Hopefully I did not offend mom’s but you are more of an adult then I am. That was the point.
Nate and Gabe are fun to hang with and I wanted to make sure that Dave and Arthur felt included when we were all together. Again it is nice to see the bonds of dads with their kids. Plus, watching different parenting styles. Not to judge on that but…I will leave that alone. For this article.
My wish is that more moms when it comes to divorce could witness trips such as ours to see why dads are important in our kids lives.
There are times when you hear stories of how a dad is behind in child support and because of that he can not see his own kids. I hate that thinking from moms.
Who are you really punishing?
Not sure when my next trip is with Connor is, but maybe as he continues to get older we need to do more trips. Way before he does not want me to hang with him.
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