Pretty emotional weekend for me. This was officially my last weekend to spend with Shan before she is off to Thailand for a year(1) and these past few months with her I have been living for the weekends and I wanted this to be a great one. Friday night she asked me out for dinner and she had made reservations at a place in the boonies called Pine Ridge(2). It’s a nice little place just outside the city before Birds Hill. Almost as far as Bry’s place. We had an amazing dinner. I had to go steak after seeing all those deer running wild at the side of the road and so did Shan. After a great meal Shan slides me over a card that turns out to be from Nolan. Inside it read “thought you might like your windup prize a little early this year”.(3) Apparently he had arranged this with Shan previously and gave her some money to take me out for a nice dinner before she goes. What really made my bottom lip tremble was that he thought of this during a really hard time in his life, with Missy in the hospital and so many other things on his plate. Thanks Michael for always being there for me. After dinner we went to see Zsanin(4) sing and have a few fancy coffee’s before calling it a night.
Saturday was Nolan’s hockey and with the big guy at the hospital it was up to me to get things organized(5) and go through the stuff Nolan deals with once a week to ensure we have a good skate. Weird without Nolan there but good hockey.
Saturday night was Shan’s going away bash. I was pretty beat and wasn’t too sure how I was going to take the reality of the evening but I think I did pretty good. A surprise appearance by Shan’s little bro Timmy added to a perfect night. She wasn’t sure if she would get to see him again before embarking on this grand adventure. What a great turnout too. Shan is so loved. It was great to sit in the hot tub with the guys out in full force. They even kept thier suits on and Ponch was really classing up the place.
Sunday was Easton’s birthday celebration carried over from the week before. Went to the Ratte’s and hung out there all afternoon and then made it back for dinner too! Thanks guys for being so accommodating,
(1) – What a lot of people may not know is that Shan and I only started dating a few weeks before she left for an entire year. When she left we had kind of left it open and not knowing how things would pan out. I wanted her to get everything she could out of her experience and she certainly didn’t expect me to shut down my life for a year and start reading books. It’s amazing how things solidified over that year.
(2) – I still don’t think I have ever been there.
(3) – I can’t tell you how many times Nolan has done something for me like this, but this one took the cake. He knew this was going to change my life and wanted to be a part of it. He is just that type of guy. Just last week Puncher and I made a plan to take him out for birthday wings and he ended up paying. Insisted in fact.
(4) – Janine used to sing under that name but when I search it online that’s not her! We still keep in touch and I did some website work with her. She is still singing and writing children’s books now too. Always a creative talent.
(5) – 24 years later of taking the jerseys and making the teams. Nolan doesn’t miss hockey for much, but this one was a no brainer.