Butterflies...

No, not the cute ones that pollinate flowers, I'm talking about the ones you get in your innards.

I have never been much of an athlete. In school I was forced to play soccer, which I hated, basketball, which I hated, and baseball, which I didn't hate but as with the other two I basically sucked. And football? Fuggeddaboutit!

The one team sport that I ever enjoyed playing was ice hockey. I grew up near a lake that froze over inn the winter, so pond hockey was a big activity once you plowed enough snow off to make a playing area. And I sucked at that, too, but at least I had fun.

I never played "organized" hockey until I went to a small boarding school in New York. My junior year I finally made third-team, and they put me on defense because I could skate backwards. Senior year I made JV.

In college I played in a few frat leagues, and after moving to DC I picked up the game again after an 8-year hiatus. Then came Abby. Those late night starts in Bowie and Columbia lost their charm...

Then my daughter decided she wanted to play.

Well, since I was paying all this money for practices, etc. I decided to skate and help out with practice drills and the like, and the bug bit me again. After 15 years! So now I've been playing on and off for the last 7 years or so in various "C" leagues in the area.

One thing, though. Before each and every game I get those dang "butterflies"! You'd think after all these years that stuff would go away. By this past spring they were seriously getting to me.

This summer I decided to take the season off. I have always said that I'll keep playing until a) it's not fun anymore and b) I can't for some physical reason. Condition a) was violated last spring, so I figured time away would be a good thing.

Well, I've just returned from my first game of the season. We lost ... nothing new there ... but it was fun, and I can still play a more or less decent game. So now I have to work on those butterflies. I still get 'em before each game. Maybe I should go see a good lepidopterist ...