Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Remember the Time



     A few weeks ago, while Shaun and I were laughing/ shaking our heads about a current situation, we started reminiscing about all the 'times' we have had here in France; good, bad or indifferent. And a light bulb went off. We make yearly photo books so we can look back at all our experiences, why not jot down some of our most memorable moments we've encountered over the last 13 years. Initially it was tough to dig deep to the early days but once we got a few, they seemed to come easier and easier. So instead of listing all of them in one blog post (way too many anyways, after all, it has been 13 years), I figured a re-occurring 'Remember the Time" blog series sprinkled in amongst the regulars may be the way to go. Since each day we remember a few more, I am not going to even try to organize them in any sort of dates/team configuration, so just sit back and take them as they come. I will try to even it out equally with both experiences from Shaun and I but let's face it, I'm like a 'shit magnet' sometimes and it's my blog, so I'll write what I want to. Here goes...


--that time when Shaun's team played in the Ukraine and he noticed that there were 'women of the night' everywhere in the hotel. When I asked him (with one eyebrow up) how he knew they were 'women of the night',  he replied 'trying to read the book upside down was a dead give away'.

--that time when we were at a dinner party at a coach's house and Shaun excused himself after dinner to use the restroom. The restroom was located directly off the dining room and as soon as he 'got underway', the room fell silent, it sounded like he was peeing from the roof into a bucket and things got AWKWARD. And I'm not good with awkward silences so I rambled on about something like 'fire hoses'. I still cringe when I think about it.

--that time where I had to excuse myself from a dinner party at a teammate's house because I had tried to keep up with one of the players drink for drink. Shaun thought I had it all under control until after 10 minutes in the bathroom, he heard the shower turn on. Think that's when he knew it was time to go. Meanwhile, I still thought I was as 'cool as the other side of the pillow'. I will never live that down. (RIP Thierry)

--that time Shaun's coach asked him if he was Jewish and when Shaun said 'no', he said 'are you sure'?

--that time when we went to Moulin Rouge in Paris..with my mom. Pretty sure Shaun never imagined bouncing boobs could be so uncomfortable.

--that time when a coach invited us over to his house for dinner and while having a drink in the backyard and I spotted a hammock and promptly gave it a whirl. It promptly flipped me over and spit me onto the concrete with a skinned knee, bruised ego and a rip in my pants.

--that time I was pulled over in the wee hours of the morning on the way to pick up Shaun at the gym from a road game. Apparently, I only had my fog lights on and was driving 'erratically' so the cop gave me a sobriety test. In my defense, I had just woken up and didn't know how to drive stick. Oh, and the team bus passed me all while this was happening. I could see Shaun's teammates faces pressed against the bus window.

--that time Shaun came over to medically replace someone for 2 weeks and they put him in an apartment with a bed and well, that was it.

---that time the coach invited us over to dinner for Fondue Bressane, where you cook your own meats in a fondue pot filled with hot oil. He proceeded to scrape raw chicken ALL over his plate before cooking it. (Our goodbye was extra heartfelt that night since we truly believed he was going to die of salmonella and we would never see him again).

--that time said above coach invited us over for 'Salmonella night' and had a large picture of himself lying on a rug hanging over the dinner table, shirtless...and there was not much distinction between his chest and the rug.

--that time our 'carbon monoxide' detector went off and we had to immediately open the doors, shut off the gas, vacate the property and call the firefighters (oh FYI, 'that time' was last thursday). It was at that same time, I realized Shaun and one of his teammates may be of no help in emergency situations.

{The firefighters rolled up 5 deep, sirens blasting and in full gear and all I kept thinking was 'do you guys have one of your Antibes firefighter calendars with you'?  I had heard Shaun was Mr. October and I have still yet to see it, fair thought}
--that time at one of my very first games over here, I was in the stands and 2 women near me began yelling at each other. Not able to understand French at the time, another teammate's wife explained to me it was the coach's wife and mistress..finding out about each other. C'est la vie.

That's it for now, folks.






2 comments: