It was the culmination of a career over eighteen years. As I was settling into the realization that my Leukemia was giving me another go around, Joe had signed his first Professional Hockey contract. He would be traveling across the pond to play for the Tibro IHC in Tibro Sweden! A dream come true for him, it was an opportunity to be paid to play the sport he loved. We were so proud of him. Since he hadn’t celebrated his September 21st birthday at home in years, we arranged a nice party at our home to send him off. That was at the end of August. According to Joe, Sweden was a big change of pace from the US and Canada. Quaint, quiet and old European, Sweden is essentially a small country where the teams in their various Professional leagues are situated and directly associated with their towns. Game days were a big deal to the townsfolk and the teams a source of great pride. The arenas are alive with the loud cheers and chants of the fans all game long. Travel to the home arenas of rival teams usually meant a Coach bus ride of anywhere from one hour to four hours. Not bad compared to the exhausting trips of up to twelve hours in the US and Canada. Even though a contract was signed, as usual, you had to pass muster at the initial main camp and survive to make the initial twenty man roster. We got the call a week before his opening game that he made the top squad and he was good to go. Every hockey parent, Pro or Amateur, knows the agony of waiting for the final cuts at the end of tryouts. Joe had been on both ends of those outcomes. It’s not easy.
In all of the years that Joe has played hockey, Lori and I had rarely missed an opening game. Wherever he was playing, we made the trek to watch and cheer him on in his new endeavor. Chicago, Boston, Ottowa, Toronto, etc…. we were there. Now, with the return of my cancer, there was no way that I was going to miss his first game as a Professional Hockey player. No way! Lori was not going to be able to make the trip because of work, but I arranged a last minute flight to Stockholm. I booked hotel rooms in Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Tibro. I was on my way! I packed only exactly what I needed and what would fit in my backpack, got some Swedish currency from AAA and took off from JFK Airport on a Thursday evening before his first game that Sunday in Gothenburg.
I had never been to Sweden. A foreign country, different language of course and I needed to navigate myself across the entire landscape. No problem…right? First off, I had no clue that Stockholm was so far from the airport. A hundred US dollar cab ride of about an hour. I found out that I got ripped off. Next, the hotel was nice, but very old, and the rooms… Ikea small. Like a cot and a table. The food was awful and the people were nice but quite to the point. Not much conversation going on with people that they didn’t know, even if they spoke English. I did observe a group of twenty something couples come into the Pub where I was attempting to have dinner. The young men greeted each other at the bar with jubilant hugs and kisses while the women adjourned quietly to their own table. Very interesting. Anyway, I made my way to my cubby hole to plan my next day. In the morning, I would take another cab ride to the Stockholm train station where I would make my way to Gothenburg. Only a four and a half hour ride across the country. I needed to get some sleep. It was a six hour time difference and I was pretty beat.
Sweden in October reminded me of Pennsylvania, brisk and cloudy. But the weather was about to change quickly. Snow was in the forecast for this last week of the month and my travels would be cold and wet. I made it to the train station and secured my ticket. “Pretty expensive”, I thought. I had to wait about ninety minutes to depart but the train station was quite comfortable and it had a Burger King! Heaven!! I was able to do some people watching too. Little did I know, the Swedish population was very diverse. It reminded me of Toronto. A lot of Indian, Pakistani, African and Middle Eastern people at the station. The local population was also not as beautiful as you would imagine. Lol. Those strikingly beautiful blondes were hard to find. My Burger King hamburgers tasted so good! A little bit of Americana really helped my belly! I diligently watched the departures board as the time for me to get out to the platform was approaching. This was a huge place. It would be easy to get confused and become disoriented looking for the correct platform, train, etc. There were people moving everywhere. I made it outside to the cold and cloudy exterior of the station. The snow was definitely on its way as was the multitude of trains rushing in and out. This was crazy! I took a deep breath and tried not to get too anxious. Here it comes! Train number 1121, car number 4, seat number 102. I’m on my way. Boarding the train felt like boarding an airplane. Gate number, flight number, seat number. Same deal.
Seat number 102 was not a window seat and that sucked. Two seats per side of each aisle, like a plane, the four and a half hour ride would have been nicer being able to enjoy the scenery from that vantage point. The horn for final boarding sounded while the seat next to me remained empty. Lucky me! I would move over as soon as we started moving. In that instance, I felt a shower of water rain over me from behind. I turned back to see a young beautiful blond Swedish girl shaking her wet long blond hair. The reason for my unscheduled second shower of the day. She said something in Swedish to me and pointed to my coveted window seat. No way, I thought. I got up and let her sit in her seat and as she continued to speak, I just said…”American”. She laughed and in perfect English she said, “Oh, no problem, I’m sorry I got you all wet!”. As the train started to pull away from the station, our conversation began. At twenty two years old, an instant ambassador for her country, her personality was as sweet and beautiful as she was. We talked about Joey and his journey that landed him in Sweden. Nick and his accomplishments. Lori, how we met and our life in the states. Her family, friends and life in Sweden. Her name was Madeline. She was on her way to Gothenburg to meet friends. I mentioned that almost every barn in Sweden, and I saw hundreds on our trip, were red. She laughed and said that she had a family vacation home in the country, with a red barn. We passed multitudes of lakes along the way. Sweden was such a beautiful country. “I wish that I had more time for sightseeing”, I told her, but as usual, I would be only traversing the arenas to watch Joe. We exchanged views of photos of everything from jewelry to horses, homes to loved ones and great pics of the tall mast cruise ship that she worked on. Four hours flew by. As we approached the station in Gothenburg, I invited her to the arena on Sunday to meet Joe and enjoy the game. We exchanged Instagram contacts and after departing the train car, I thanked her for her company and conversation. The snow was coming down now and as she walked away, Madeline turned back around and waved goodbye with a big warm Swedish smile. It was such a pleasure to meet her. I had my first Swedish friend. Now, to hail a cab and get out of the snow to my hotel room. It was another long day. Tomorrow was the season opener! Btw…Joey had no idea that I was coming to Sweden! Surprise!!
Next Up: That’s My Freaking Dad!