Hockey, Hurricanes and Home

I’ve never been one to make resolutions--but I do find value in marking the end of one year and starting fresh another.

2004 for us was the year of Hockey, Hurricanes, and Home.

The Stanley Cup win was obviously a personal and professional achievement for Sean, but we were all lucky to go on that ride with him--which brought some pretty amazing gifts.

The traveling opportunities I was afforded during the playoffs were unsurpassed. Flying on a chartered plane to Montreal to see that series win; Calgary for games 3 and 4 of the finals, and the prime seats for every home game all season. I truly felt a part of the experience.

That night of Game 7 when we won on home ice is a blur. We had family and friends with us, and the party went on all night long. Then came the parade where we rode in our car along the parade route with the players in front of thousands. I can’t describe the euphoric novelty of that day.

The summer passed as the parties did too, and late September it was our day with Stanley. An unbelievable experience that I will never forget. 300 people were in this house all celebrating the sheer joy of having THE CUP here. The only flaw in the day? It was entirely too short.

The lockout prevented the start of the season, which has been disappointing, but the celebrations will just have to be postponed into 2005.

In between all of the hockey, we dealt with 4 major hurricanes in 6 weeks that taught us the not-so sunny side of Florida living. We didn’t suffer much damage to speak of, but the preparation and cleanup and constant monitoring of the Weather Channel was exhausting. Of course, in recent days, those hurricanes seem so insignificant and meaningless.

But both of these events also led to tremendous attention to our Home--which we made significant improvements to this year--new tile and resurfacing of the pool, new carpet, paint and exterior improvements--but the best part was that for most of the year, it was filled with friends and family and I feel truly blessed in that regard.

Here’s to 2005. *virtual clinking of glass*