the sun shines this morning
but the wind is from the west
frigidly cold as it comes off the prairies
it’s a whisper that reverberates
in coffee shops and restaurants and breakfasts
anywhere where people are gathered
right through the heart of Canada
did you hear about the crash
because as much as it might sound like a joke sometimes
hockey is truly something that ties this country together
from one end of the trans-Canada highway to the other
because for all that the cities get a lot of the attention
Canada has a heart in its rural communities, too,
diamonds waiting to be uncovered
it ripples through and it ripples down
(impossible to tell the scope, the lengths to which it goes)
because…
this is what it is to be rural
to travel for hours and hours to play a league game
or in a competition
it’s making a home for yourself on that bus
having a seat that you prefer
and knowing who you’re going to sit with
the day before you travel
it’s learning what you like to do on a road trip
how you’re going to spend your time
carefully curating a playlist
learning to fall asleep on the road
it’s sending your child away to live with a billet
for a chance to play on a Junior A team
a chance to realize their dreams
for however long
it’s buying season tickets to Junior A hockey teams
to have a front row seat to their youth and their heart
and their willingness to volunteer in their community
(in schools, in programs, on special days)
their willingness to be a hero to the kids
to look further than their own hockey careers
and invest in the ones coming up after them
in rural Canada,
Junior A hockey teams aren’t just hockey teams
they’re knit into the very fabric of the community
they give everyone something to talk about
something to invest in
in the long cold winter
they carry hearts
they carry hopes
they carry dreams
this is why the whisper sounds
this is why the news spreads
this is why there’s an outpouring of sympathy
as the news pierces to our hearts
it could’ve happened to any of our communities
and we grieve with you
areudirty
blakekathryn
kianamaiart
