"......dream with open eyes...."

I would like to introduce you all to my my new "boyfriend. "

His name is Andrew Ferrence.  Yeah, I know I'm married.  So is he.  Doesn't matter.  I will forever CRUSH on this guy not only because he is slightly attractive -- *wink, wink* -- but because this is who he really is:

And after the Boston Bruins warmup at last night's game -- he stopped on his way to the locker room and took time to acknowledge a five-year-old little boy and hand him a puck that ALL the Bruins had passed and slapshotted during warmups.  Here is what he did to that five-year-old little boy:

In fact -- I am really impressed with so many of the Bruins players.  Recci stopped and gave Elijah a smile, Shaun Thornton glass checked him, and Tim Thomas stopped right in front of him and gave him a look.

Obviously, they remember being little boys and idolizing NHL players.  It only took a few seconds, but they gave him a memory that will hopefully last him all the way to the NHL himself.  He told me that night that he was going to be a "Bruin" someday.  By God, I believe him.  I'm hoping Andrew Ferrence is still playing then. :)

The Bruins game was AWESOME!  It was Milt Schmidt night and they retired his number to the rafters.  Four Bruin legends were on hand to honor him - Cam Neely, Bobby Orr, Ray Bourque and Terry O'Neill.  But it was what the 93 year-old himself said that stuck with me.  He said that "the spoked-B [was] practically my family crest."  And that got me to thinking about how this man just totally gave himself to hockey.  It wasn't just a job to him -- it was his dream and his passion.

He didn't just play for the Bruins.  He was, "an integral part of the 1939 and '41 Cup-winners and as a GM, Schmidt added two more titles to his resume in 1970 and '72" (John Bishop, Bruins.com).  He was a Bruin all the way and now #15 will watch Bruins hockey from high in the rafters forever.

And that got me thinking about about passion and just giving yourself over to something completely and all the way.  I see that in my five-year-old Eli.  He has just given himself over to the game of hockey.  And I'm not talking just likes it -- he IS hockey.  He watches every Bruins game televised, he wakes up in the morning and the first thing he asks (even before Good morning Mommy) if the Bruins won and what was the score, he is hardly seen without his stick and a ball in the house and happily gets up every Saturday and Sunday morning and plays himself.

We sat way up in the balcony of of section 312; row 8.  No one on the ice could see or hear him but it didn't matter one bit to Eli.  You know those CRAZY fans you see at football games who just go ALL THE WAY to cheer on their teams?  That's Eli.  He screamed, taunted, danced, chanted, clapped and roared the entire night and up onto the JUMBOTRON!  He entertained the entire section with his antics.  And let me assure you -- we were ALREADY in the rowdy section!

I just kept looking at him with pride.  He was totally giving himself over to his passion.  He didn't care what people thought of him or how he looked or the fact that no Bruin would know what he did or didn't do.

I love that.  I admire that.  I am going to vow to try and live my life that way from now on -- give myself over to my passions in that pure, uninhibited fashion.

So, triathlon, next year -- it's all about you.  It wasn't an immediate thing with you -- more like a slow burn stoked race by race by race.  But this upcoming season - I am going to give myself ALL THE WAY to you and see what happens.  I am ready to commit - physically, nutritionally and mentally.

I'm yours.  The same way hockey is for Andrew Ferrance, Milt Schmidt and Eli.

This was my beginning....

King Pine Tri - May 2009 (40 lbs. ago)

This was last season....

3rd place 35-39 AG Kennebunk Firemen Tri - August 2010 (40 lbs. lighter)

3rd place 35-39 AG Pumpkinman Sprint - Sept. 2010

Here's to my future:

"All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act out their dream with open eyes, to make it possible." -T.S. Eliot

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