17 Years

17 Years

17 years side by side
17 years never once second guessing my decision
17 years grounded in a life of love
17 years of a relationship between Stanley Cups
17 years living around the city we've chosen as home
17 years of making new friends while keeping old friends
17 years playing together
17 years of pictures of our lives
17 years now with two beautiful children (and counting?)
17 years pretending our respective families aren't crazy, but knowing that they really are
17 years wondering how two people seemingly so incompatible on the surface can fit so perfectly
17 years of shorthand relationship notes
17 years of aging and changing...for the better
17 years of watching the world change around us, knowing in our hearts our love will never change
17 years of secrets only we'll ever know
17 years and yes, you are still the one
17 years knowing I could spend 17 lifetimes with you

For 17 years we've watched the world go by safe and secure in the knowledge that whatever else was going on, it wasn't going to touch us. Our foundation has only strengthened over those years and will continue to do so for the next 17 years and beyond.

I love you more today than I ever thought was possible 17 years ago, but now I know that our love knows no bounds.

Between now and then til I see you again I'll be loving you Love, me

16 Years

16 years
16 years of intertwined hearts
16 years of changing technology but unchanging love
16 years building a loving family
16 years working toward a long and prosperous future
16 years of shared stories and events
16 years of stolen moments
16 years of holidays
16 years means 5,840 days together
16 years that can't be erased (nor should they be)
16 years of arbitrary twisting and turning in sync
16 years means our relationship can drive
16 years of sharing everything possible
16 years of wondering why you'd stick with me
16 years of gratefulness that you have
16 years feels more like 16 minutes

To us, my love.


She glided softly down the stairs, only a slight whisper of material and a small click of heel on stair to announce her presence. He glanced up feeling the familiar rush at seeing her, undimmed by the passing years. At the bottom of the stairs he held out his arm, they headed down the hallway to the foyer where he casually draped a wrap over her shoulders. He opened the door and she smiled as she saw the driver holding open the door to a classic Bentley. "And where are we headed?" she asked. "Somewhere special." he answered quickly. He gently closed her door and nodded to the driver, "No reason to hurry. We have plenty of time prior to the reservations." "Very good sir."
He climbed into the backseat and picked up her hand. "I love you!" he whispered. "I know." she answered smiling slightly. As the car headed toward dinner they sat in a comfortable silence enjoying the time. When they pulled up in front of the restaurant she kissed his cheek and said, "I can't believe you remembered." "It's only been 16 years, hon." he answered. "To some, 16 years is a lifetime." "Yes, but to me, it's only a small step at the beginning."

I love you!
Between now and then til I see you again, I'll be loving you. Love, me

Twelve Down Four To Go

Ottawa - check
New York - check
Philadelphia - check and double-check.
Detroit - Here we come.

I'm already weary of the time between series. I want to see hockey and I will tomorrow night. I'm tired of listening to the broadcasters talk about the precision, the puck-possession, and the shut-down defense of Detroit. Detroit's about to get a taste of what depth looks like on offense. Of the forwards only Tyler Kennedy hasn't scored at least one goal for the Pens and it isn't for lack of trying. The Pens aren't going to have the easiest time in the series, but I say they close it out in 6 on home ice in front of 17,132 screaming fans.

When The Puck Drops, The Cradle (Of Liberty, That Is) Will Fall

Bye Bye New York. Tee times vary by clubhouse. Please call ahead. Don't worry about getting enough guys together for doubles, the Flyers will soon be joining you.

That's right, in 6 short games or less (hopefully less) the Flyers will be giving statements to the press wondering what happened to their season.

I'm also predicting that Dallas will push their series to 7 and come out over Detroit.

The four remaining teams are halfway to the ultimate goal, but only two will survive to keep going.

One of the local sports talkshows has a host (and I'd love to have this soundbyte) and he opens a lot of segements and goes to commercial break with "The only thing better than advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals is stepping over the dead carcass of Philadelphia on the way there."

And, of course, there are other things going on besides hockey, but I just haven't had the energy to log on recently in trying to get the house ready for baby and get Gage's birthday invitations out and getting stuff ready for Adam's wedding and etc. etc. etc. Everyone seems to be well so that's an update at least.

I've Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway, Or At Least I'm Gonna

Alternately titled: I'm Not In A New York State Of Mind
Or maybe: Running On Ice
(Can you tell Terri and I attended the Billy Joel concert Friday night?)
There's much in the way of past weekend wrap-up, but I'm a little too jumbled in those thoughts at the moment so here's the round 2 hockey action. I went 5 for 8, which is a little above my normal 50%.

And, in case anyone's forgotten, the remaining teams are 4 wins closer to holding this.

In the West
Detroit
vs.
Colorado

I'm disappointed that Nashville didn't make it out of the first round, but they shouldn't fret because Detroit won't make it out of the second. Once again, they're showing their age with visible wear and tear. Dominik, I'm retired, no I'm not, yes I am, no I'm not, Hasek is playing like he's already looking forward to summer forcing Osgood to come in and spell him. It's anyone's guess as to who starts round 2. Colorado, even with all their respective aged ones should be able to pull through this in 6 games.

San Jose
vs.
Dallas

It's a shame Calgary didn't make the most of game 7, but then again, no one I wanted won the game 7. I'm predicting that since Turco has a taste of what it's like to win a series, Dallas in 7.

In the East

Montreal
vs.
Philadelphia

Well, after taking their foot off the gas and allowing Boston to make a series of it, Philadelphia liked what they saw and did the same thing for Washington. Turns out Boston missed the memo on what they were supposed to do after getting everything all tied up. Washington made a bit more of a game out of it. Huet just couldn't catch that last one. Two very tied clubs, but I don't think Biron can stand up to Montreal's firepower. I'm saying Montreal in 5.

Pittsburgh
vs.
New York Rangers

Both teams are well rested so one team being rusty shouldn't be a factor. Neither team took major injury losses so that won't matter. And, even though the Rangers aren't quite Pittsburgh East anymore, they still have Jagr, Straka, and Rosival. All in all, it's going to be Pittsburgh in 6.

And, if you didn't get the title...see here and here.

Sweepin Up The Competition

That's right I said Sweep. 4 games for the Penguins to 0 games for the Ottawa Senators. I picked the right outcome, but I was off on the number of games. I thought Ottawa would put up a little bit of a fight. I guess I was wrong. Unless I miscalculated tonight's game, Ottawa held the lead less than 5 minutes in the entire series. (For perspective, 4 games would total 4 hours). Granted, there are times when no one is playing with the lead, but for comparison, the Pens led during the series for well over 2 hours. The 3 stars for the game tonight included Martin Gerber, who, in my opinion, was the only Ottawa player who bothered to show up for the series. Most of the games could have easily been a lot more lopsided if not for him. The series in the West are mostly going my way, although I'm horrible about picking the number of games. I'd still like to see Nashville and Calgary pull it out, but who knows. The games in the East aren't quite as nice to me. Washington hasn't bothered to show up for the last two games. I guess Ovechkin's back isn't as broad as people had hoped. So, if Philly manages to close them out, they'll face Montreal, who has Boston on the ropes. That leaves us with the winner of Devils/Rangers, which right now looks more and more like Rangers. I'm not looking forward to facing Lundquist. But for now, I'll just enjoy the sweep. And, I'm going to game 1 of the second round, dammit.

Other Assorted Items and Hockey Of Course

Okay, I'll start with hockey. Most of the series are headed the way I like, with the exception of the Rangers and Jersey. But, sooner or later, the Rangers will realize that they are, the Rangers, and that will be the end of that run. Pittsburgh has put up two incredible efforts dispelling any notion that Ottawa has the psychological edge on them. After blowing a three goal lead in game two, they hung on and managed to get a beautiful wrap around game winning goal from Ryan Malone, who then proceeded to put in an empty net goal about 45 seconds later. Monday will be the true test up in Ottawa. If they can put Monday's game away, they have a great chance of sweeping and gaining some rest before round two.
I'm growing to like the commercial from the perspective of the goal posts.
Several items have brought about memories of college days recently. It started with reading the 4th novel, Murdered By Mumia by Maureen Faulkner. Not wanting to get into it again, Maureen Faulkner is the widow of the Philadelphia police officer that Mumia Abu Jamal killed in premeditated cold blood in 1981. He's been on death row ever since. When I was writing for the school paper, I was given the assignment to do a story about Mumia since his defense attorney du jour Leonard Weinglass was coming to campus to drum up more support for their "political prisoner" image. Now, I didn't know anything about the case before receiving the assignment. In the span of 4 days, I quickly brought myself up to speed and made my own mind up about the case. However, I spent the next day and a half agonizing, writing, re-writing, editing, reading out loud, scratching, typing, and finally came out with a non-biased account that I was fairly proud of. Turned it in, mentioned to my editor that it was a bit of a task to do a news story on the subject and proceeded to go about my normal set of weekend events (namely buggy). Monday I grab a copy of the paper and I'm thrilled to see top slot above the fold front page. Then I read the article. My editor took the opportunity to use his "editorial pen" to do a slight rewrite on the article and slanted it in favor of Mumia. I was livid since my name was attached to the article. I called immediately and asked where he got off. Three minutes later I had ended my affiliation with the news section of the paper. I continued to submit to the entertainment section doing movie and cd reviews and interviews, but I never submitted another news story. Anyway, reading the novel brought back all those memories and taught me even more about the case. It just amazes me that he's still alive 26 YEARS after being found guilty and sentenced to death by a jury of his peers. It's probably one of the few political issues I take an actual stand on.
The second thing that took me back was the death of Dith Pran on March 30th. I interviewed Mr. Pran when he spoke at Carnegie Mellon. I can't even imagine going through the things that he saw both in and out of his camera lens. He was a diminuitive soft spoken man, but highly articulate and intelligent and he and I had a great conversation that turned into a great article.
Then, of course, there's the ever looming Spring Carnival that occurs next weekend. By this time next week I'll know where my old team finished.
And, Smart People came out this week as well. So, all in all, it's been a blast from the past. I haven't seen smart people yet, but I'll probably see it soon.