This past few days have been a major roller coaster! As many of you know, my son, Trevor is a hockey goalie. He hasn’t been playing long, but he is progressing very fast and he is good at this. He is looking to play at the Junior A Hockey level this coming season and College Hockey in the future. Who knows where this could lead. He has the ability, he just needs the opportunity.

Those of you who follow me on Facebook know that Trevor was at a showcase in Las Vegas this past week. On the way home, his gear (leg pads, goalie pants, and both his catch glove and blocker glove) were damage beyond repair by a bad re-pack job by TSA after inspecting his bag. (A claim has been filed but doubtful we will see any money. It sucks but it happened and we had to move forward). Cost to replace his gear was around $3000. He’s 19 now plays at a level that requires Pro grade gear…it’s not cheap. Usually I get to spread the expense over many months by replace one piece at a time. Four major items at once was a painful hit, especially as it was unexpected.  Timing of this happening could not have been worse. Trevor played some of the best hockey of his career while in Vegas, in front of many NCAA and Junior A scouts and coaches. He is hoping to score invites to tryout camps later this summer in hopes of making a team. We had to scramble and borrow the money so that we could order new gear in time for those upcoming camps. It takes him about 2 weeks to break in the gear before he can actually play a game comfortably and accurately, so we had to move quickly. New gear arrives on Monday. Whew.

That brings us to today. A few hours ago, he received an invite to play in a very elite tournament in the Boston area in mid July. EXCITING! but YIKES!! This tournament is attended by nearly 100 NCAA scouts and Junior A coaches and scouts. In fact, the coach who invited him is a scout for a USHL team (The USHL is the highest level American league in Junior hockey). For this coach to notice Trevor is a pretty big deal. Needless to say we are beyond excited. His new gear will get here just in time for him to get it broken in. Another whew!

Fortunately, my dear friend, Pam, lives in the Boston area and will graciously allow Trev and I to stay with her while he plays in this tournament. That is going to be a huge cost savings! Next up is trying to figure out how to pull together another $1000 in resources for airfare and car rental to Boston . Yesterday, on Facebook, many wanted to help out with the huge and unexpected expense of replace Trev’s goalie gear. Many suggested starting a Go Fund Me account. I baulked at this as I don’t take handouts easily. I pay my own way. As many of you know, I am struggling to get caught up with a huge backlog of kits that need to ship out and patterns that need to be written. Putting up anything new at this point, knowing it would be a couple of months till it ships out would be just plain dumb on my part. I did come up with the idea to put up some of my quilts (I designed quilts before I moved to paper), but that will take some time to get pulled together. I was panicked as to how to replace this gear.  After many tears and significant coaxing from friends I decided to move ahead with a Go Fund Me account. Within a minute, I received a message that I was wrong to go that route and it was classless to move forward. I didn’t recognize who it was and I deleted it immediately. Thats all I needed as I spoke the same as y inner voice and I backed away from the Go Fund Me idea. My husband was able to pull together what we needed to get the gear on its way here and I knew I could relax for a few days. Next expenses were most likely not until August…or so I thought. Today’s opportunity adds a new wrinkle. More tears and more discussions with friends brings me to the point of this blog post. So many of you want to help Trevor. You have watched him grow up on Ustream. Many of you know of his struggles a few years ago with anxiety and its crippling effects. Through hockey he has beaten so many demons. He has such a bright future now and many of you have asked to help him. Its nearly impossible to ask for help for myself but for my son? I will swallow my pride and allow those who wish to help to do so. A dear friend reminded me I already have a vehicle to donate…right here on my website. I don’t have to go through Go Fund Me, I can do it with the Paypal Donation button I already have in my Archives tab. I have place the button at the end of this post. Those who CHOOSE to donate to Trevors future can do so. Any assistance will be appreciated beyond measure. Do NOT feel any OBLIGATION to do so, it is merely an option that many have asked me for. I can promise this, I will find a way to give back to all of you in some way.

Your support humbles me. Thank you!

Laura