I always told that kid to use Odour Eaters or Febreeze or something...!
Ingrid and I went for a walk this morning.
I have some video and after the runaway success of ‘Therapy from Birds’ from a few months ago, I may put together the footage at some point!
In any event, this walk was a first with some new shoes. Not totally new mind you…just new to me.
You see they were Chris’ shoes.
I was going to get some new running shoes and it reminded me that for the past year I had been the recepient of a few ‘hand me ups’.
This is what happens when your kids get as big or bigger than you.
Chris always wore his shoes with tucked-in laces…except for lacrosse shoes. So these sneakers still had the laces tied together with his knots but tucked into the shoe so they appeared untied. Ingrid deftly untied the knots and we were off.
With any shoes, they’ll need to adjust to my feet. That’s a bit of discomfort I don’t mind a bit, in fact I love it.
Firstly, Ontario is always favoured. Consider this. Based on population alone, Ontario (at 13 million+) could have three lacrosse teams for every one from BC (population 4.5 million).
Do I want some cheese with this ‘whine’?
The point is Ontario is always big, strong, tough, confident and ready to win.
The Iroquois had just beaten Alberta in the late afternoon game setting the stage for BC to get into serious medal contention and relegating Ontario to a bronze finish at best. That alone provided a huge motivation factor for the Ontario team, but it was BC who seemed inspired.
I think of Chris often when I watch. He LOVED this game. He loved the passion that it evoked. He loved playing for his local team and club teams, but there was always something special about representing your Province.
As the boys get ready for a showdown at 11:30 this morning (Aug 20), I will be thinking of them.
Depending on the outcome of the late morning game against Alberta, BC will go for gold or bronze later tonight.
The bronze and gold medal games are at 6pm and 8pm.
Have a great day.
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2pm update! Team BC lost a close one with Alberta so they play Ontario for Bronze at 6pm.
Team BC player (Chris Nasato) in blue BC jersey with gold trim breaks away from the Red and Black Ontario squad.
The Midget National Tournament (BOX LACROSSE) is being held this week in Coquitlam, BC.
We saw BC take on Iroquois on Tuesday afternoon.
Although they lost that game, they still have a good chance at getting after some hardware.
If you want to see some of the best players in Canada at the Midget (age 15/16) level, you can watch four of the best go at it tomorrow (Thursday) on Poirier Street.
Coquitlam has just rebuilt this facility and it’s a great place to catch a game.
Iroquois takes on Alberta at 3pm and then BC plays Ontario at 5pm. Full schedule here.
Aside from lacrosse, what is the personal connection you ask?
Chris played at the National Bantam tournie in Ontario in the Summer of 2007 with BC winning a bronze medal in a tough show down vs Alberta. We loved watching the Iroquois play as well and they eventually beat Ontario for gold that summer.
As one Iroquois supporter told me in that very calculated vocal pacing after a disallowed goal back in 2007 against the much bigger and favoured Ontario squad, “You’ve got to score 3 to count 1”.
Sometimes that’s true…sometimes that is true. The point is to NEVER give up. They didn’t and they won gold.
No, I’m not crazy…(well sort of, but only part of the time).
Chris literally took us to the movies today?
How?
Back on March 22, just 3 days before he passed away, we went out for dinner as a family.
It was a Monday night and very unusual for us to go out on a weekday. Like VERY unusual….maybe once a year if that. But there we were, Max and Chris in a booth sitting across from Ingrid and I and we were laughing all night.
You’ve seen blog posts referencing that night before so I won’t get too detailed, but the occasion was Ingrid’s birthday and Chris had got her a movie gift card for $50 and the suggestion of a mom & son movie that coming weekend.
Fast forward four and a half months. With a very hot day and some time off, it was a perfect chance to get to the movies along with Max.
A little piece of heaven in Nanoose Bay on Vancouver Island (Aug 2010)
As we head into the last few weeks of August you get that sense of changing seasons.
Whether it’s the CHRISTMAS DISPLAYS AT COSTCO, back-to-school stuff everywhere, or those amazing August evenings that magically cool to just the right outside temperature at about 9pm when the sun sets and gets ready for the next show just a few hours away…you get the feeling that change is in the air!
As I wrote yesterday, I like to take some time to look forward, but also like to reflect on where we’ve been.
On occasion I go through some old blog posts. It’s an amazing way to see the journey and progress that’s been made. The days and weeks have ups and downs, but I think if we see things over time the general flow of the chart is in a slow but progressive move in a positive direction!
Summer should be a time to relax, enjoy and take in the sun with family and friends.
Agreed…even though I’m not that great at it! As many of you have experienced, probably the most relaxing time is when you get away from the house and normal duties and go up to the lake, cabin, spa, etc.
One thing I love about those times in the summer is the extra time to think and to plan!
Yah, yah, I know, broken record, planning and goal setting. Ask poor Ingrid, she’s been hearing this for 24 years.
So…not to disturb the summertime vibe, but I know for myself I like to look ahead a little at the fall and ask what I want to accomplish. I’ve noticed something very interesting happening on Chris’ memorial Facebook site.
It is still a great place people can send messages to Chris and when you put things in writing you are of course sharing them with a broader community and allowing others to help support your goals and dreams as well.
I’ve seen comments about achieving physical fitness goals and pushing forward to new ones. I’ve seen comments about achieving lacrosse goals. I’ve seen comments about setting educational goals both for high school and college.
THIS IS AWESOME.
I can’t think of a better way to honour Chris and his memory then by rocking out a few goals!
Enjoy the summer. Relax (yes, I’m preaching to myself here)….but take a little time to think ahead and put a few things down on that goal list for the fall.
PS Using Chris’ memorial Facebook page won’t be for everyone but I do encourage all of us to share our goals with someone. It helps those around you help you to achieve dreams!
As many of you witnessed reading thru the multiple World Cup (Soccer) blog posts last month, I love that sport and many others.
I think I have a new favourite team in the British Premier League called Blackpool.
They are underdogs coming into the season, but they scored 4 goals to beat Wigan today.
Ok…let’s go somewhere with this. I coached both boys in soccer. You see a young Chris here putting on some moves.
One of the most difficult things to teach kids in soccer is to ‘go to space’. I’m not talking NASA or the moon.
Going to space doesn’t make sense to kids and even much older players.
Going to space means going to where the ball isn’t.
It’s about anticipating where the ball might go.
When you go to space, you’ll have more of a chance of having the defenders back off and if your team understands the concept of getting the ball to space, you can really start moving the ball.
Chris makes a move, while big brother Max looks on a little too close to the endline I think!
I was left with the dilemma of teaching 6-year-olds the basic concept, but they just wanted to chase the ball like a bunch of bees on a honeycomb.
What I ended up doing was teaching them a little rhyme that I made up and they would say it while they practiced a drill.
Instead of running around in a pack they would run up the side of the field then into the middle where they would get a pass and shoot and hopefully score.
The rhyme was:
Up the side,
In the middle,
Score a goal and play your fiddle.
…at which point I would insist on them playing an ‘air fiddle’ (think air guitar)!
It wasn’t perfect, but the kids remembered it and they got better and better.
As I was thinking about this tonight watching Blackpool, I thought about how Ingrid, Max and I are learning to ‘get to space’ now. We are needing to step out in faith and go where the ball isn’t, in anticipation that the ball will be going there. If it isn’t, we regroup and try again.
It’s a hard thing to do when you’re learning so we may be sticking with the simple rhyme for now, until it becomes a part of the new normal.
Up the side, into the middle, score our goal and play the fiddle!
This is an excerpt from a story in the Abbotsford Times on August 13. The full story can be seen by clicking on the link below. Rhys, like so many of us, had to deal with the why questions, emotions, confusion etc. He has turned that into a motivating power moving forward. Here’s the article:
Burnell, a member of the Burnaby Mountain Selects lacrosse team, the B.C. Midget Box Lacrosse team and the U-16 Field Lacrosse team, was rocked when he found out about the sudden death of his close friend and teammate Chris Friesen on March 25.
Friesen, who grew up in Langley, was just 17 years old. He was far too young, said Burnell, a 16-year-old Grade 11 student at Yale Secondary.
“I went through a lot of emotions,” he said.
“I was sad, I was confused. I tried to figure out why he died but I managed to just get through it.”
Delivering the news to their son that his friend had passed away was also an emotional experience, said Burnell’s mom Lori.
“It was very difficult because we were very close family friends,” she said. “It’s devastating. It’s hard to explain to kids this young why these things happen. I don’t think there is an explanation but to see all of the boys take up the cause and keep working hard in Chris’s name and really pay tribute to him . . . Chris lives on through these young guys.”
“There’s a picture of him holding a lacrosse stick and it says ‘Be The Best’ at the top,” added Burnell.
That’s Be The Best.
Congrats Rhys. We’re all very proud of what you’ve accomplished so far.
Have you ever spent some time staring at the stars?
I had the chance tonight following this spectacular sunset on Vancouver Island.
With no city lights, the stars began their dance as the sun left the stage and only continued in intensity as the evening brought its curtain of dark focus on the sky’s next show.
When I looked up at the stars, I thought of many things…but of course one of the big thoughts was of Chris.
I imagined him shining down on us all through the sun and then keeping us company through the stars.
Just like the many days when we couldn’t see the sun in April, May and June and simply had to trust it was there, it’s the same with the stars. They are there every night, but I have not seen stars like I’ve seen tonight in many many years.
It’s interesting that it is in the darkest of darkness that the stars seem to shine brighter. It’s a matter of remembering those stars shine this bright even if we can’t seem them most nights.
As any good older brother would do, Max washes Chris off in the sink.A determined Chris makes a run for the ladder.Coach Dad adjusts Chris' helmet during intense roller hockey game.Eskimo kisses with Mom.Disneyland? No question. Just go. It's magic.
Be The Best. 
