Today, I was alone at home due to a day off from work.  My wife and I agreed I’d paint the baby room. I had painted only once in my life and hated every second of it and made a pile of rookie mistakes. The difference this time was that I was painting by myself. The thoughts that echo’ed in my head while painting were anywhere from strange to very logical.  I got to thinking about the sport of hockey and the amazement that I have watching some of these players play live. I got to see Lemieux, Gretzky, Lindros, Bure, Sundin and many other players in my life time. I am blessed that I got to see Gretz and Lemieux.. They were just spectacular.

The thought that brought on the inspiration for this blog post was specifically around Gretz and Lemieux. They say in life that things should happen naturally. Meaning you don’t need a vice to unscrew a jar of jam for example. Chances are it will end up in shards of glass embedded into your body due to sheer stupidity. Just like painting, taking your time and doing it with patience results in a very well painted room. I can remember watching Gretz and Mario skating flawlessly around the ice. They were natural born players. They knew when to push the hyperdrive button to make a play work. Always knew where other players were on the ice. While I was painting, I had it all planned out. While painting, without even looking, I knew which brush to pick up, which one to put away, when to take my time around edges and when I could just plow through. They were the same way. A lot of people would say that it appeared that Mario would be lurking around waiting for the play to happen. I disagree, he knew when to pick up the puck (brush) and see where the opposition was (taking his time around edges) and then blammo, there was Jagr (now he could plow through the play). It was magic. Gretz and Kurri, Jagr and Mario were a treat to watch. Try looking at old hockey video’s and watch them play. Now if you really want to see something special, there is a special video in which Gretz and Mario tuned up one special memory for all of Canada. I won’t give it away but you all know it..