Dear Toronto Maple Leafs

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March 10th, 2015

Dear Toronto Maple Leafs,

This is not a letter from a fan.  In fact, if I’m being honest, I always cheer against the Leafs.  But the thing is, now I’m raising two little Leaf fans and I adore my Leaf-loving husband.  The Leafs have entered my life, and they’re here to stay, or so it seems.  And so I put pen to paper, or cursor to screen, and here we are.

I am a Canadian-girl and a hockey fan through and through.  I was raised inside cold rural Alberta arenas with french fries, penny candy, and hot chocolate in styrofoam cups.  I saw Gretzky and the 80’s Oilers when I was too young to know what that meant.  As a nine-year-old, I remember watching Fleury’s Stanley Cup winner in my cousin’s basement.  My family had season tickets for the Red Deer Rebels (yes, Phaneuf’s old stomping grounds) and we saw Hockey Night in Canada (or Hockey Night in Toronto?) every Saturday.  I still have Rubbermaid bins full of alphabetical hockey cards from my childhood.  Get it?  I love this stuff.  Okay, has my credibility been established?

So I’m writing to you as a hockey fan, as a mother of Leaf fans, as someone living in the middle of Leaf Nation.  Something needs to change.

The Buds have grown on me through my twelve years as an Ontario resident.  I even cheered from my couch and sported Leaf blue during their 2013 playoff run.  This is not something that most Western Canadians would admit to.  But it’s become increasingly obvious to me that the Toronto Maple Leafs will never be a winning team, and even as an ‘outsider,’ that gets frustrating.

So, here’s what you do:

  • You slash ticket prices.  I mean slash.  Forbes magazine lists the average price of a Toronto Maple Leaf ticket to be $446; far and away the highest in the NHL.  Yes, your bottom line will suffer, but you’re the richest franchise in the NHL, so you can afford a one-year experiment.  Stay with me.
  • You halt corporate sales.  Let’s fill up the ACC with people who’ve paid for their seats and show up for the start of the game.
  • You stop the media circus.  Need I say more?
  • You end up with a building of hockey fans who will cheer loudly and support their team from the stands instead of from their couches at home.  People who start the wave and bring homemade posters and spill popcorn when they jump up to cheer for a goal.  You bring passion.

And the players will play.  And the players will want to play for a franchise as steeped in tradition and as full of history as the anointed Maple Leafs.

Guess what I did when I first moved to Toronto, at 22 years old, all alone and not knowing anyone?  I took the subway down to Carleton and Church and walked beside the old Maple Leaf Gardens.  It gave me goosebumps.  I want my kids to have those goosebumps when they reminisce about their Canadian childhood hockey experience, rather than frustration over another missed playoff run or a team that didn’t try.

Let’s give it a year.  If it doesn’t work, you can always go back to ‘rebuilding.’

Thanks,

Ashley Worobec

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My husband and kids supporting their team.

 

A Gift of Imagination

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We got a special delivery to our backyard a few weeks ago.  Tucked into the wooded trails at the bottom of our hill, now lies a quaint little 7’x7′ wooden playhouse, complete with a front porch, two screened-in windows, and set of bunk-beds.  To say that my children love it would be an understatement.

They are captivated by the sense of independence it brings, its magic of make-believe, its let’s-create-our-own-world environment.  We’ve gathered up some blankets and pillows, found a table and chairs, and bought a broom and a fly-swatter.  It’s become a little house where adults aren’t allowed and children’s imaginations can grow.  It’s theirs.  All theirs.  The smell of sawdust and shadows of tree branches only add to its intrigue and memory-making potential.

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This playhouse is a bit of a family tradition for me.  You see, my grandparents gifted a playhouse to my brother and I when we were very young.  It was literally a miniature house, with cupboards and a sink, a rain-echoing roof, and a linoleum floor.  And we loved it.  Hours upon hours were spent inside, in all kinds of weather, while we let our imaginations run wild and our dreams set foot.  We read books, we had sleepovers, we swept and mopped and washed and dusted.  It was a little piece of the adult world shrunk down to fit a child.  And my parents have now gifted a playhouse to my children; a gift of fantasy, of resourcefulness, of creativity.  A gift of imagination.  IMG_1983

When I see my kids playing in there, I can still hear those creaky old bunk-bed springs, still feel the coziness, still smell the stale air, and still see the little girl who was given a place to dream big.

 

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‘Children Learn What They Live’

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I first saw the poem ‘Children Learn What They Live’ written on the wall of my doctor’s office nearly a decade ago.  Single and childless, the only childhood I was familiar with was my own.  But lately, as I watch the day-to-day moments, both mundane and miraculous, of my children’ lives, I find myself thinking about this poem.

It’s stuck with me.  It’s resonated.  It’s made me think.  Perhaps it will do the same for you.

***

If a child lives with criticism,
 he learns to condemn.

If a child lives with hostility,
 he learns to fight.

If a child lives with fear,
 he learns to be apprehensive.

If a child lives with pity,
 he learns to feel sorry for himself.

If a child lives with ridicule, 
he learns to be shy.

If a child lives with jealousy,
 he learns what envy is.

If a child lives with shame,
 he learns to feel guilty.

If a child lives with encouragement, 
he learns to be confident.

If a child lives with tolerance,
he learns to be patient.

If a child lives with praise,
 he learns to be appreciative.

If a child lives with acceptance, 
he learns to love.

If a child lives with approval, 
he learns to like himself.

If a child lives with recognition,
 he learns that it is good to have a goal.

If a child lives with sharing, 
he learns about generosity.

If a child lives with honesty and fairness, 
he learns what truth and justice are.

If a child lives with security,
 he learns to have faith in himself and in those about him.

If a child lives with friendliness, 
he learns that the world is a nice place in which to live.

If you live with serenity, 
your child will live with peace of mind.

With what is your child living?

~Dorothy Law Nolte

***

So let’s fill our homes with encouragement and tolerance, praise and acceptance, approval and recognition, sharing and honesty, fairness and security, friendliness and serenity.  Let’s make our kids confident and patient, appreciative and loved, ambitious and generous, conscientious and trusting, friendly and peaceful.  I’m off to get started…

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