Q-isms - Life Plan

At 8 years of age, my Q has a life plan.  This in itself is amazing to me, because at (almost) 35, I do not have a life plan.  While overhearing his father and me talking about starting a fund for his university education, he said:

Q:  Do I have to use that money for college?  What if I don't go to college?

Me:  Oh you're going to college, my son.  Sorry, no choice there.

Q:   But if I'm already playing for the NHL by then, it will be hard to go to college AND play hockey at the same time. 

What, exactly, do you say to that?

Me:  Well, maybe that's where you'll be discovered...in University.  And then you'll be glad you went.

Q:  Ummmm, well I'm pretty sure I'm going to be picked up by the BCHL before that.

Hmmmmm, this kid has thought this through....

Later, I texted his dad...

I think we need to put Q in skating lessons

Not only has my son set a goal for his life, he's set a pretty lofty one.  He is determined to be in the NHL.  Yes, this might just be a phase he's going through but I'd rather support his goals, no matter how monumental, instead of telling him there's a pretty big chance they're not going to happen.  I mean, talk about winning horrible parent of the year award, hey?  Sorry kid, your goals....too high.  Not sure I believe in you enough to accomplish them...

So, he's signed up for skating lessons.  He has to be in skate 4 before they'll even consider him for hockey.  We get there, and there's like a hundred kids...boys in hockey jerseys and girls in skating tutus, all with dreams big enough to touch the sky.  I realize we're a little bit behind, because most kids who are interested in hockey start when they're 4, and not when they're 8.  We're behind and I'm feeling the pressure. 

And my little guy, he just looks so little.  There is he out on the ice, looking so vulnerable behind all these hopes and wishes.  My heart literally ached for him that evening.  I wanted to jump out onto the ice and let everyone know that he was going to be the next Jarome Iginla, so they better put all their efforts into teaching him.  He looked like he needed me to protect him.  I wanted to scoop him and all his hopes and dreams into a great big hug and protect them. 

I look around and all these kids have name tags, and they all just seem to know where to go.  My boy is just standing there.  With no name tag.  Where did these kids get their name tags?  Why does my kid not have a name tag?  Where were these effin' instructors anyways?  Who was running this chaos?  In that split second, I almost leaped over the glass, slipped on the ice and made a huge fool of myself all in an attempt to protect and help my little boy.

That's what it was...it was a split second.  Because Q, he skates out on the ice (without falling at all!!!) gets into a big circle with all these kids and starts doing EVERYTHING that the instructors do.  When he realizes everyone has a name tag and he doesn't, he skates over to the board where all the name tags are (oh...) finds his name, puts it on, and skates back to the group where he's supposed to be.  All without falling.  And then got put in the intermediate skating class.  Hmmhmmmm.

oh.

Dude did it all on his own!!!!  I'm having a fricken panic attack, my heart literally breaking over how much I love him and want to protect him, and the dude does it all ON HIS OWN without even a second thought.  This growing up thing is going to be really hard on me, I think.  Sometimes, I still catch myself doing up his coat zipper or putting his shoes on and he looks at me like I've lost my mind.

But it is this determination in him and this tenacity that leads me to believe he will meet all these goals that he has set for himself, that he is more than capable of doing so.  Whether he changes his mind and decides to become a neurosurgeon or a choir director (funny story: he came home from school the other day super stoked because he had joined the extra curricular choir AND had talked two of his buddies into it as well!!) he has all he needs to be successful.

He just needs me to put him in the skating lessons, sign the permission slips, give the encouragement, believe in him, support him, LOVE him.  He does not need me climbing over hockey glass and yelling at 15 year old instructors and writing letters to the NHL telling them to put my son on the Calgary Flames...or else.

this kid knows how to win friends...maple leaf jersey in vancouver...geez