The Bonuses of being the Better Half

Last night, actually early dawn, I explained to Craigley and a few friends of ours the meaning of "Better Half" from my perspective. It is quite literally the spouse who is better than the other OR a spouse who makes the other better than who s/he is! Craigley didn't quite agree, but then he also did not share his own perspective on it all!

Craigley has recently gotten the hosting bug. Like ASid, he enjoys having people over. But obviously Craigley's bug is more serious than his son's and of gigantic proportions. And no matter the size of the bug, I am stuck with the task of taking care of the bug!

There are only Friday nights or Saturday nights to host dinners with friends or family. If we do it on Friday nights, then Craigley misses his Hockey games. He missed a few and so, we decided to invite friends over on a Saturday night this time around knowing full well that Hans has Sunday morning Practice and Hockey School after that! Something has to give, right?!

Craigley announces after midnight that Hans can skip Practice; however, as a coach, he would be there without Hans. Then, around 2 am, after the guests have left and as Hans was getting ready to sleep, Craigley tells him that he expects him to be up and ready for Practice. The boy thought his dad was kidding, but I knew that Craigley was not!!

Hockey is Craigley's religion. ASid didn't go beyond skating and Craigley got a second chance with Hans. Since Hans is the kind of kid who wants to make everyone happy, he has been a trooper with Hockey. This morning though, I truly felt sorry for the boy. If Hockey is his passion, he would go to bed in full Hockey gear and would want to roll out of bed and onto the rink. But it is not. He enjoys sharing the sport with his dad and enjoys being the coach's son. But that is the extent of it.

Since Hockey is Craigley's religion, he enjoys doing it all and going above and beyond. He loves being a coach and hanging out with Hans. But Hockey is not Hans' religion. Hockey is a bond he is forming with his dad. Hopefully, the bond is strong enough to survive a disgruntled morning.

On a positive end note, just getting 5 hours of sleep (even at the age of 9) hasn't ended the world in any way. And if the world hasn't ended, we can all look forward to another morning and hope that it is not disgruntled in any way!

 

Noteworthy Remarks: Last night, one of our friends remarked, “If you open a bottle, you must finish it!” We all thought it was amazing philosophy and it was appropriate within the context of consuming alcohol with friends. It prolongs the time we spend with our friends. But then again, if we need to call it a day, we need to leave that bottle unfinished. There is always another day and we can always make our way back to that unfinished bottle!