Today, for work, I set up a couple Google Alerts for Sidney Crosby and Team Canada to track where the story is spreading and who is saying what about Canada’s 2010 Olympic Hockey team. Sidney being from Nova Scotia is of particular interest because, well…we love him and all he stands for:  hard work, dedication and the right attitude.

Korey participated in the Sidney Crosby 3 x 3 Timbit tournament this summer when Sidney brought the cup home to Cole Harbour, NS.  Korey was the TASA team’s goalie. $100 in street hockey gear later, he was decked to protect and they had so much fun. It was an honour to be part of the celebration.

This Christmas I found Sidney’s book, “My Day with the Cup” and it includes a picture of Korey’s team. What Korey remembers most is Sidney tugging on his shirt to get him in the picture. Opposite the gallery of team photos is an action shot and in the background is their Grandad, Justin and me. It’s a keepsake, dear to our hearts.

Watching Korey’s Novice team play tonight, I overheard one of the parents say how bad their son felt when he scored on his own net. And, Korey today was one “lazy goal” (as he called it) away from a double shut-out. This got me wondering if Sidney ever scored on his own net when he was in minor hockey and what advice he would shell out to these hungry young stars.

Best of luck to you Sidney as you represent Canada in your first Olympic games. We’ll be watching and waiting for you to bring home the prize. The last one was silver, let’s make this one gold.

PS:  My Blackberry has been dinging all night from the string of alerts. It’s big news for Canada and for Nova Scotia. I’m wondering now if I’m going to alert myself.

Justin and Korey met up with Santa at my work on Christmas Eve. When we got home Justin said, “I’m not saying this to be mean to Santa or anything, but he’s not as fat as the Santas in the pictures.”

This got me to thinking that if you preclude your statements with the above disclaimer, you can pretty much say anything you want, so here goes:

I’m not saying this to be mean or anything, but:

• Why do companies have website contact forms if they never check them?
• Why did my bank charge me a $10 inactive fee for a Visa that was never activated and has been in the landfill for over a year?
• If pharmaceutical and medical equipment companies really cared about their customers, they’d charge less for drugs and machines.
• If organic producers really cared about their customers, organic stuff would be less expensive. Update:  If the government really cared about our health, they would subsidize organic food producers.
• Why does the media hardly ever get ALL the facts correct, but we still believe their story?
• Why do people care that some dried up singer or actor had a drug addiction they overcame and then buy their stupid books so they have money to spend on said drugs again?
• I don’t think telling the world about your past drug and alcohol problems helps anyone. Especially kids who can point and say, “she did it and she’s ok now, so I’m going to try it.” Keep it to yourself, who cares? Unless you’ve died from it, kids won’t get the right message. Write a book after your dead and I’ll buy it.
• Why do dogs throw up on freshly shampoo-ed carpet?
• Why do people continue to talk about themselves on Twitter. Unless you are particularly funny, I could care less what you are doing at this moment. If you can’t find something meaningful to share in 140 characters or less, don’t share anything at all.

Here ends my jaded rant. I can go back to normal now.

Epilogue:  The boys and I watched the movie “Up” last night. Korey jumped and squirmed around on the bed during the action scenes at the end▬ trying to help Russell and Carl get back into the blimp. Justin said, “That was supposed to be funny, but it was sad because when the wife died it reminded me of Nanny.”  They both cried. We all cried.

Korey’s been saying lately that during lunch and recess he walks around by himself because he can’t find anyone to play with. Obviously this concerns me. My observation is that he’s always been good at making friends.  Of course, at home, he can be a bit too “leadership driven” and fortunately, Justin is pretty compliant so far. But, that’s at home.

I’ve been trying to determine if he’s making drama waves, being bullied, or just not into what the other kids are doing. I don’t think he likes the rough sports because he’s not into the pushing and shoving. He’s a goalie, remember. Pretty solo life there between the pipes and lots of admiration at the end of the game. He was awarded the Herd Hat last week for the hardest working player. He was so excited about that and the 6″ bologna sub.

My heart breaks, but I don’t want to over-react. So, I tell him what I just recently learned. Which is that people can’t make you feel anything. How you feel is your choice.

Like when I get frustrated. It’s not that they are doing things TO make me frustrated. They are just doing things AND I’m feeling frustrated. Helps keep my reaction in perspective.

I just don’t know what to do and I can’t remember everything about grade three except that I’m sure it was a bit lonely. At 8, almost 9, the world does start to lose its shine a bit and the acceptance of others seems to matter more.

As I type this, every moment of feeling left out and not fitting in flashes back to me. Wow! I think I’ll go re-tuck him in with an extra kiss and squeeze.