SEIZE THE DAY!!

It's friday today. Anything can happen, you just got to get up and out the door, right?

This morning when I got up it was a daunting -25 degrees outside. So I bundled up, took Duncans hand and we headed downtown. With over a foot of snow on the ground, some of which was blowing up and around our heads, and ice where there used to be water, we were mostly kept warm by our excitement... It was so cold, even the air was frozen, little tiny particles floating around waiting to be inhaled. We stopped briefly on our trip for hot chocolate, and then - when we finally did reach our destination, we proceeded to stand in -20 (it warmed up a bit) weather for the next three hours. And it was damn cold.

So, what on this earth could possibly made us happily expose ourselves to this kind of experience?


Wayne Gretzky.


Thats right. I said Wayne Gretzky. And we watched him skate, for the first time publically since his last NHL game, today at the outdoor ice at Commonwealth Stadium. It was the practise for tomorrow's Heritage Classic Hockey Game, so we saw others too, like Guy LaFleur, Larry Robinson, Paul Coffey, Jari Kurri, Dave Semenko, Esa Tikkanen, Kevin Lowe, Lee Fogolin, Grant Fuhr, Marty McSorley and Mark Messier; but it was Wayne Gretzky that I was there for. It was exciting to watch him skate today. A man behind us said to his freezing kids (who were on the border of complaint) "This is history, right here, today."

He's right. Here, in the heartland of Hockey, Canada, history is being made. And it's our history to make.

In Canada, hockey is life/life is hockey. From roadways, to frozen ponds, to outdoor/indoor community arenas, kids all over Canada have played their hearts and dreams out on the ice, in this game that IS Canadian.

I AM Canadian!!!