I hate the unknown.

I was trying to hold in all of my concerns about next season and really try to go with the flow. The only problem is I’m really not the ‘fly by the seat of your pants’ kind of girl. I need to plan things out. Something that is near impossible in this hockey life we live. That feeling is even stronger now with Reese in our lives. It’s not just the two of us who can make do, we have to think about Reese’s needs too.

There are way too many unknowns in our hockey adventures and I tend to stress about all of them, big and small. Is the team reliable? What is the town/city like? Am I going to be stranded halfway up a ski mountain without a car? Will there be other people I can talk to (read: that speak English)? What will our apartment be like? Will there be other kids Reese can play with? Will there be other wives/girlfriends? I really believe the other girls you’re with make a big difference in your experience. We all need friends, someone to talk to or vent to, and these girls understand exactly what it’s like to live this life. I would love to know the answer to any of those questions before we leave but am sure I’ll still be wondering after we arrive.

One of the biggest things is where we will live. We have seen the gamut on this one over the years. From our own places to friends’ places and friends of friends’ places. Let’s just say I’ve seen some less than ideal places to live. We’ve been fortunate enough to have pretty good apartments wherever we’ve been, (minus one little hiccup in Finland but let’s not even go there) but it’s definitely not a guarantee. We need two bedrooms. Not two in European standards, which often means one bedroom plus one ‘living’ room. If you have a toddler, you know the importance of this one. We can’t sleep in the same room as Reese for an entire season. Well not if we actually want to sleep. Prime example, we just spent a night in London and it was like sleeping with a jumping bean the entire night. I mean literally jumping from one side to the other and walking around the bed with a blanket over her head at 3a.m. Almost funny but then I remembered it was 3a.m. Definitely not funny.

We are hoping to get some of these things worked out with the team before we leave. We’re crossing our fingers anyway. Maybe our toes too.

And in the meantime, I’m making a goal for myself to try not and stress about all these little things. Instead, try and focus on the positive things I can control. Like what kinds of candy I should pack.