As the mom of young kids, summer is supposed to be the best time of all. Sun, fun, pool, beach, lazy days... while I do love all of this, I can't help but yearn for winter a bit - not only because my kids will be back in school (they're driving me a bit crazy), but also because it will be Caps season.Since the loss in April, we have:
1) watched the remainder of the Cap-less Stanley Cup playoffs
2) adopted the Hershey Bears (the Caps farm team), watched them win the Calder Cup, and imagined a few of them (Carlson, Alzner, Neuvirth) wearing red and holding up the Stanley Cup
3) watched the NHL Awards and was thrilled to see Ovie take the stage to win the Lindsay Award. I watched his whole speech with a huge smile on my face - he can do no wrong
4) bought tickets for me and Max to attend the Caps Convention in October - can't wait to watch them reveal their Winter Classic uniforms!
5) sat by myself, in prime time, watching the NHL draft
6) started Max in a new hockey class and was psyched to pull out the pads and jersey again after a few months off, even if it meant going straight from bathing suits at swim team practice to changing in the back of my car into warmer clothes for the ice rink
7) BEST OF ALL - attended the Caps Fan Fest. Russ was going to be out of town, so a few weeks ago I gave Max the choice of going to the beach for the night or to the Fan Fest - it was an easy decision for him. "Fan Fest." So I got the boys (and me) dressed in Caps clothes (minus my youngest, who was grouchy and insisted on wearing a green shirt), loaded them in the car, and headed down to Kettler Ice Arena, where we hadn't been since the Pep Rally before the playoffs started. We were greeted by the familiar humongous blown up Caps jersey, but this time there were Caps moon bounces in the parking lot that the boys loved. Inside, it was packed beyond belief - we couldn't even get in the arena to watch the rookies scrimmage at first because it was "filled to capacity" (clearly the epic loss in the first round didn't hurt their fan base). We got faces painted, arms sprayed with tattoos, bounced outside, and then came in for the scrimmage. At that point, it wasn't so full that we couldn't get in, but it was so full that we couldn't get seats, so we sat on the floor in front, pushed up against the plexiglass. Rookies we've never heard of and might never hear of again wowed us with their play, their speed, and their pure desire to look good out there. It wasn't the familiar faces or numbers that we're used to, but it was no less exciting and exhilarating to watch. It ended in a shootout, but with three hungry kids, we only made it to the of regulation before it was time to eat lunch. Afterwards, we waited in the store line for 20 minutes before spending way too much money on Caps stuff for them, for me, and for our friends the Goodmans' new baby boy that we thought just HAD to have an "Unleash the Fury" shirt. We even got a quick visit with Slapshot.
This time, we didn't stalk any of the players, didn't get any autographs, didn't watch our favorite players out there, and don't have a game to look forward to in the next few days, but it was the summer Caps fix that I needed, and that I know Max needed. My younger two boys who haven't completely jumped on the Caps bandwagon yet even felt the Caps love and I think they're coming around. Even Will, the youngest in green, wanted a "Rock the Red" t-shirt for himself.
I realized that we're about halfway there - the loss was on April 28 and the first game is on October 8. Just under three months away from the loss, just under three months away from the start of the new season. I think this gave us what we need to get through the next Cap-free months, at least until preseason begins. Before we know it, summer will be a distant memory, and Max and I will be in the Convention Center, looking at those Winter Classic uniforms, just a few days away from Game 1. But first, we're off to the pool.
