National Mentoring Month and Day

Yesterday was National Mentoring Day. As an event the Los Angeles Kings gave the Big Brother and Big Sister organization in the greater Los Angeles area 100's of tickets so that the "Big's" could take their "Littles" to a hockey game. And not just any hockey game, the freeway series of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks vs. the Los Angeles Kings. There are certain things to expect when you get something for free, and that's to expect that you get what you pay for. So I expected to be on the top tier of seats, I just didn't expect to be at the very, very top. You couldn't get any higher in the Staples Center unless you were hanging from the roof. The view of the game from up there was actually pretty good but it was difficult for my little as it was her first hockey game ever. Being so far away you don't really feel part of the action but I did explain some of the basic points of the game, like when a referee will stop a fight and when he'll let them go at it.

Speaking of expectations......I create scenarios in my head. This is why I really started this blog so long ago, to write some of them down. Some are out there and some are just stories and thoughts; but I realized last night that some are expectations. I had some expectations last night. When Big Brother/Sisters called me about the tickets I thought it would be an organized affair with all the Bigs and Littles sitting together in a section where we could all come together and have fun. It turns out we were scattered all over the top sections and there wasn't really any camaraderie. I tried to turn it around to being just about my little and I. It turns out that she prefers that. It seems that she's embarrassed that she is in a position in her life where she has a big sister and not really a mom or dad that's part of her life. Makes sense.

The Kings won 4 - 1, there were a couple fist fights, one really big one. This seemed to thrill my little sister the most. Perhaps she was born a hockey fan?