DIVA on the PENALTY KILL!

One of the most important things in life that I have discovered for myself (after seeing the value of it in others) is knowing who you are and not compromising that for any reason. Ok, so it took me until my mid 30's to figure this out. The imporant part is, I figured it out.

      For those of you that do no know me, I am an opera singer, a soprano to be exact. I have been at this for 15 plus years now and have a career in it. The short of it is, I did not grow up in the fashion that most people would imagine could lead to me becoming an opera singer. I was quite the "tom boy" growing up in sports as a speed skater, volleyball player, also dabbling in a little rodeo. This is a big part of who I have become. The reason for the truly abbreviated background information is that when I tell people I've been playing Ice Hockey for more than 3 years....most that know me as an opera singer are quite taken for a ride. In some big way these two ideas do not belong in the same sphere. But I do find that most are pleased and get a pleasant laugh out of it and are actually in full support of it.

    About two years ago I began a blog called "The Checking Diva." The idea was write about my experiences as a new hockey player while still maintaing my performance schedule. I drew comparisons about how the two activities are performance based and why I was playing hockey.Unfortunately, I had NOT figured out the life lesson of knowing exactly who I was. At the time and I allowed some who simply did not understand my choice to play what is considered a "manly" sport and could potentially be dangerous (like any sport) to drive my fun and lighthearted blogs off the air as well as temporarily halt my involvement in hockey. MAJOR PENALTY! Against myself!!!

    It was MY choice and I blame no one but myself. I am now on a PENALTY KILL here. (For those that don't know the rules to hockey... A penalty kill is when the team is down a player or two due to penalties and they have to fight harder to not be scored on.) So I am killing my own penalty by resuming my activities and blogging and simply being myself in the process.

I am planning to repost all of the original posts from the very first game I played and will continue forward as a much more balanced writer with more life experience and more of the REAL ME in my blog. I simply had to realize I had nothing to prove and nobody to please. All I had to do was write about my experiences. Going forward, this blog will continue to include fun and witty hockey stories but will also include more stories from my travels and the incredible people I meet and work with.

     All I needed was a mirror to show me myself. And OHHHHH BOY has that mirror done its job. That was a God thing. Turns out I'm actually a pretty cool person... really.....ASK MY MOM! (lol)


P.S.  JENGA!