Michelle Perin’s Blog

I have not been a good writer over the last six months or so. But, I will not beat myself up over it or dwell on it. Instead, I will move forward. This is something I’m practicing in many different areas of my life. Some days are better than others. Some days I just want to bury my head in the pillow and scream until I’m hoarse. Actually, my MO looks more like just stuffing it deep inside. I have to say I’m amazed at the capacity God has given me to continue stuffing and stuffing and stuffing. I can’t imagine the abyss is infinite but the amount of crap I’ve stuffed and never dealt with over the last three and a half decades of my life seems to be enough to fill quite a crevasse. (Do I really have to dig that stuff up and eventually deal with it? My therapist thought so. I don’t see her anymore.)

Anyway I digress. Today is the first day of hockey season. Dean will be on the ice this evening and it’s time for me to get back to my novel. Summer is over so I don’t have the excuse of needing to be outside in the sun. (I must remember I am not a solar panel. I am not a solar panel. Ok, maybe I am.) I’m going to side-track myself right now and look at the week’s forecast. I’ll keep you posted…

Rain. Rain. Rain. Rain. It might stop for a while on Saturday. That’s nice. Guess I need to be living in the real. I live in Oregon. It’s October. Rain makes sense.

Guess that means I should be inside writing while drinking tea. No more excuses.

I pulled out my Book in a Month book and found my zip drives with Desert Ice on it. Where do I even begin with editing? Maybe I should dialogue with Marilyn Meredith. She would know. Now I’m going to go check with her (ha ha, anything to keep myself from writing. I’m such a naturally-born writer.)

I sent out my email and will wait for her words of wisdom.

On another note, I again was made aware of how my reality isn’t. I’m trying to do things differently in the way I deal with other people especially those I care about. I’m in a new relationship and am trying not to fall into the same old patterns. All I can say about that is…It’s hard. Wish me luck and I could use all the prayers you can spare.

What would my life be like without hockey in it? From October through March, do I have an identity aside from being a hockey mom? What would it be like to have to drive over 2 hours to strap a pair of skates on and take a few laps around the ice? What happens to the kids who have been picked up by the Eugene Generals if they have no where to play even though their contract goes through 2011 and try-outs for other teams are over?

All of these questions and about seven hundred more have been racing around my head since about 3pm today. That’s when I got an email stating the Lane County Board of Commissioners is considering immediately shutting down the Lane Ice Arena. Although this ice rink has been around for 20 years, a study done while the county was considering the viability of the rink suddenly deems it a hazard. Because of this, they are stating they might not allow ice to go back in and that will be the end of hockey (as well as figure skating, speed skating and skate parties) in Eugene. But because of the distance to the next closest rinks (Portland or Medford), ice hockey will be essentially over for the Willamette Valley.

I hate to say I saw it coming, but when the County is already ignoring a facility that could be an immense asset and decides to remove the ice to “assess” any upgrades, it has to make you wonder what they will do when the ice is gone. Well, exactly what they are doing. Although, I thought they would honor their contract with the Generals. I guess I was wrong. Now, they just want to say, “Sorry it costs too much to fix and we have other priorities.” I don’t think they are looking at the whole picture.

We can’t afford to lose a safe, constructive place where our youth can go, be active and enjoy themselves. Ice hockey affords kids from 3-18 years old a way to learn team ethics, sportsmanship and dedication. If you’ve never seen a group of Mites out on the ice, you haven’t lived. They are probably the cutest, funniest things ever, especially a goalie when the gear is bigger than he or she is. When they fall, they look like a turtle. But they get up and keep going and growing. The Eugene Junior Generals Bantam Team took second place in both the San Jose Winter Classic and the State Championships last season. These boys and girls played hard all season long and improved exponentially under the tutelage of Coach Flint Doungchak (also the Generals Manager) and Ross Friesen (whose daughter, Nikki who plays with the Bantams was chosen as one of the elite to make regional Selects). Along with the youth league, there is an adult league with a variety of levels, a women’s league (Eugene Xtreme) and special hockey. This doesn’t even touch the surface of all that is offered at our ice arena.

The Board of Commissioners is supposed to make a decision on shutting down this valuable resource in the next 7-10 days. There is a petition you can sign to help draw attention to the value of the rink at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/icecenter/. Donations are also being accepted to try and offset the $125,000 -1.2 million estimated to fix the rink. This is necessary if Lane County decides it does not want to find the money to save this community asset. I’m hoping this community will come together behind what it loves and won’t allow the government to say what is and is not important to us. After all, when I moved from Michigan, I chose to live in Creswell (15 miles from the rink) so that we would be close to the rink. My boys love ice hockey and so do I. It would be tragic to let the County take that away from us and so many others.