Kevin's Obsession

ob·ses·sion:
   the domination of one's thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, desire, action etc.
ob·sess:
To preoccupy the mind of excessively.
To have the mind excessively preoccupied with a single emotion or topic

 Every day. Every spare moment.

The goalie pads go on. The blocker and trapper are put on. The mini stick is put in the hand. The ball is whacked against the wall and b/c it is bouncy, it flies back at the goalie who makes a dramatic save.  The ball is whacked. Comes back. Save. Shoots. Saves. Shoots. Saves. Over and over and over. 

 Sometimes there is only enough time for 5 minutes of "game". Sometimes there is enough free time to go for an hour.  He will.  All with a play by play called by himself.  Most days he is James Reimer.  The other day he switched over to Gustavsson after Reimer's three losses in a row.  One second he is Lucic taking a shot. The next he is Reimer with a fantastic glove save.  The play by play doesn't stop and there is never an intermission.

The plusses to this fascination with hockey is the easy entertainment.  He does it all by himself  . . . though Jonathan is always roped into a few shots when he walks in the door or if he is not too busy.  But for the most part it is just Kevin, the wall, the doorway, and his equipment. All in their own little world.  I can think of worse things to be doing constantly!!

The negatives would be that the doorway is also my doorway from the kitchen to the dining room and there is always this big blob in my way when I go back and forth to set the table etc.  The laundry room door also opens right at centre ice and I need to go in there rather often as well much to Kev's annoyance.  But we put up with eachother. 

I am actually very impressed with Kevin's priorities lately.  He walks in the door from school and most often heads straight for the piano. He knows that when he is done this, the rest of the time till supper is his to spend however he wants to spend it. 

But sometimes the pads are strapped on after supper and the cleanup is not quite complete.  Or there is homework or studying. That is not usually a happy moment.  But again, if it gets done in good time, there may be opportunity to fling a few more shots.  Often homework is done on the bus, so as not to interfere with game time.  Can't complain about that either. But he does when I check over his work and find errors!! Its like sitting in the penalty box!  Torture.

Aside from my broken light switch cover and the thermostat cover flying off the wall and a few scuff marks here, there and everywhere, the house remains mostly unscarred - though I am looking forward to a basement with eager anticipation!
Did I mention that this is not a fad? This is not a "just the past week" occurence. I think we are going on the sixth week of this (ever since it got to cold/wet to play soccer) and the end is nowhere in sight!!

This hockey fascination does not end in our dining room.  Kevin loves to play at school every recess and lunch hour and it is a very good day when it is his teams day for intramurals.  Kevin also LOVES our hour of hockey at the arena every week.   He loves watching Hockey Night in Canada on the computer on Saturday nights and listening to the games on the radio the other nights. He loves watching the game highlights the next day on the TSN website (if he is allowed) This is the privelege that is revoked first if things are not done the way they should be. It works well! 

We often (too often) have to tell Kevin that there is more to life than hockey.  He gets that, but sometimes it is hard to see. Kevin has question after question or comment after comment or tidbits of news from the NHL. We often plug our ears. The other morning, after I woke Kev up, he straggled out of bed and with his frog in his throat and his eyes half closed, he asks,"Mom, if there is a shootout, do the goals scored count for that players statistics?"  Seriously??!!!  I just shook my head. I can't believe those were his first sane thoughts for the day. Does he dream hockey too?

Anyway, this obsession has led us to many conversations on the importance of putting things in priority. When doing Sunday School homework for 5 minutes is like pulling teeth, there needs to be a lesson on keeping things in perspective.  Kevin gets it. He just has to work hard to actually live it out.  We discussed that perhaps our first thoughts of the day should be directed above - to God our Father - and reminded him of the verse which speaks of longing for God in the morning.  Then Jonathan reminded him of the song, "When in the Night I Meditate".  Kevin retorted, "Let me guess, next you are going to sing a song to me about thinking about God at lunch time."  Yep. Pretty Much. Except we just sang, "All Day, All Night." 

So even in this hockey, there is a lesson - not just for Kevin, but for Jonathan and I as well.  Maybe our obsession is not hockey - but I can assure you that there are things that we have put priority on - over and above our walk with the Lord.  So as we remind Kevin, we also allow ourselves to be convicted of the same message. 

"My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you." Isaiah 26:9