Chloe and Tim's girlfriend (Erica) were home for the weekend from Montreal/Ottawa, so Tim and I took them curling. Jillian joined us for a while as well, as you can see from the picture. hah. It was a lot of fun and it was nice to catch up with Chloe; I hadn't seen her in a year.
Curling has always been a part of my life, for as long as I can remember. My parents both curled for years before I was born, and my dad has been the head bartender at the curling club, here in Charlottetown, my entire life, so it is not surprising that I have grown up playing the sport. I started playing when I was in the first grade. My cousin Matt and I would go to the curling club every Tuesday and Thursday and goof around on the ice for an hour, then my mom would take us to go buy POGS at the dollar store. We were actually pretty stellar for our age, and I have so many ridiculous little trophies to prove it.
In my later elementary school days I started to resent the fact that I curled, I guess because it wasn't perceived as being as coooool as hockey, but I am really glad that I stuck with it. Curling has brought me all over the country, and that is more than most kids who played hockey can say. I had the chance to play in tournaments as far away as Victoria BC and Stephenville Newfoundland. Curling also has an amazing ability to attract the nicest people in the world, and I have been lucky enough to become friends with a lot of them, even if I only get to see them once or twice a year, in the dead of winter.
Turning 21 is actually pretty significant in the curling world, as it means I can no longer compete in junior tournaments. I am officially an adult in curling terms. Because of this I think I will take a couple years off from curling, I'm not going to have enough time to play against 40 year-old men every weekend, but I will be back someday. That's one of the great things about curling, it's like riding a bike, once you learn how to do it, you never really forget.
Cheers,
Patrick
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