27
For someone in the Donna Hall of Fame. Written December 2013.
You have always been, even from before I met you, obscenely generous.
January 29, 1994 was my thirteenth birthday, and at the old Pacific Coliseum, the Vancouver Canucks were playing the New Jersey Devils. My birthday present from my parents had been tickets to the game and a weekend in Vancouver. Neil, who was only ten (!!), and I sat together in the wheelchair section, positively giddy, and watched the warm ups. It was my first actual NHL hockey game since I was three years old and my Dad took me to see a Canucks game, but all I remembered from that experience was driving for hours and hours (or possibly 45 minutes) to get there, and being really excited because Chuck E Cheese was there during intermission. I don't know why my parents found this funny, he was a bona fide celebrity mouse! I'd been to his restaurant! Anyway, point is, I was much more excited this time around.
As we watched the warm up, you took a shot on net and it deflected up into the stands and hit the guy sitting beside me on the arm, then flew back behind us, where one of the arena workers picked it up and gave it to Neil & I. We stared at each other with googly eyes of excitement. A REAL NHL PUCK!!!! We did feel a bit guilty about not giving it to the guy who was actually assaulted by said flying projectile, but it was my birthday, so normal rules of curtesy don't apply. I still have the puck; my Dad wrote the date on it for me and it's among my most precious of treasures. It was the best birthday present I got that year! However, if you'd shot the puck up & it hit me in my defenseless face, things might have proceeded differently! So our first encounter was serendipitous! (Also, that was probably the hardest shot you ever made! All the way to the top of the lower bowl stands?! Who knew?! hahahaha!)
However, I suppose your first intentional act of generosity was the next summer at Gramma Bessie's house in Nanoose. One grey afternoon, somebody made us all walk down to the marina. Based on past experience, I'm guessing it was Lisa, since the majority of us would have been perfectly content to watch Saved By The Bell reruns in the basement or take a nap to the sounds of "...fifteen-two, fifteen-four, fifteen-six, and a pair is eight..." So, after our forced walk of family fun, we were at the marina, and more importantly, the store at the marina that had candy. You wanted something to drink, and asked if anyone else wanted anything. While everyone else politely demurred, I proclaimed "JUNIOR MINTS!!! Uh, please." Neil, Toni & Kara looked annoyed that they hadn't thought of this. On the way home, I munched a few Junior Mints, and naturally when you asked if you could have one, I happily shared. I never got the box back. By the time we got home, all my Junior Mints were gone & you had shame-face. You apologised & promised to get me more, but I was fourteen, wise to the ways of the world, and a veteran victim of the ol' "I'll replace your candy I ate" trick by my dad. I did not hold out much hope. But lo & behold! The very next day you brought me a whole brand spankin' new box of Junior Mints! Faith in mankind, restored!!
So, we'll consider that the first, but oh-so far from the last time you made me thrilled to BITS. When I count down the very best, most exciting, literally awesome days of my life, you & Lisa play a role in nearly every single one. I could never list them all, but I just want you, and Lisa, to know that not one time did it go unappreciated. Every time was just as exciting & unexpected as the time before. I have gotten to do so many things that I never ever ever dreamed I'd get to do, met people I never dreamed of meeting, and experienced actual once-in-a-lifetime moments because of you, and your career, and the love that you & Lisa share with everyone I'm your lives. It's a really REALLY special thing & you guys don't get thanked enough for it, because it's impossible to thank you enough for it! 'Thank you' is too meagre, too narrow, and will never capture the scope & spirit of what you've given over the years, but until the Oxford English Dictionary accepts my entry for the word "OMGMEGAEPICGRATEFULNESSFORALLTIMEAHHHHHHH," it will have to suffice.
Thank you for letting us be apart of your amazing career, and always giving us something to cheer about, even when everything else kinda sucked. Thank you for opening your home a million times, even when Neil & I were bratty teenagers who ate our weight in candy & left Beanie Babies strewn everywhere. Thank you for my TV, which is still the best thing that's ever happened to me. Thank you for Olympics, and Playoffs, and World Cups, and MFR replay races, and gold medals, and silver trophies, and misspelled autographs, and Oakley swag, and tickets tickets tickets, and more Junior Mints than you can shake a stick at. Thanks for letting us be part of your team.
Love Always Forever Until The End Of Time OMG,
Donna The Great
You have always been, even from before I met you, obscenely generous.
January 29, 1994 was my thirteenth birthday, and at the old Pacific Coliseum, the Vancouver Canucks were playing the New Jersey Devils. My birthday present from my parents had been tickets to the game and a weekend in Vancouver. Neil, who was only ten (!!), and I sat together in the wheelchair section, positively giddy, and watched the warm ups. It was my first actual NHL hockey game since I was three years old and my Dad took me to see a Canucks game, but all I remembered from that experience was driving for hours and hours (or possibly 45 minutes) to get there, and being really excited because Chuck E Cheese was there during intermission. I don't know why my parents found this funny, he was a bona fide celebrity mouse! I'd been to his restaurant! Anyway, point is, I was much more excited this time around.
As we watched the warm up, you took a shot on net and it deflected up into the stands and hit the guy sitting beside me on the arm, then flew back behind us, where one of the arena workers picked it up and gave it to Neil & I. We stared at each other with googly eyes of excitement. A REAL NHL PUCK!!!! We did feel a bit guilty about not giving it to the guy who was actually assaulted by said flying projectile, but it was my birthday, so normal rules of curtesy don't apply. I still have the puck; my Dad wrote the date on it for me and it's among my most precious of treasures. It was the best birthday present I got that year! However, if you'd shot the puck up & it hit me in my defenseless face, things might have proceeded differently! So our first encounter was serendipitous! (Also, that was probably the hardest shot you ever made! All the way to the top of the lower bowl stands?! Who knew?! hahahaha!)
However, I suppose your first intentional act of generosity was the next summer at Gramma Bessie's house in Nanoose. One grey afternoon, somebody made us all walk down to the marina. Based on past experience, I'm guessing it was Lisa, since the majority of us would have been perfectly content to watch Saved By The Bell reruns in the basement or take a nap to the sounds of "...fifteen-two, fifteen-four, fifteen-six, and a pair is eight..." So, after our forced walk of family fun, we were at the marina, and more importantly, the store at the marina that had candy. You wanted something to drink, and asked if anyone else wanted anything. While everyone else politely demurred, I proclaimed "JUNIOR MINTS!!! Uh, please." Neil, Toni & Kara looked annoyed that they hadn't thought of this. On the way home, I munched a few Junior Mints, and naturally when you asked if you could have one, I happily shared. I never got the box back. By the time we got home, all my Junior Mints were gone & you had shame-face. You apologised & promised to get me more, but I was fourteen, wise to the ways of the world, and a veteran victim of the ol' "I'll replace your candy I ate" trick by my dad. I did not hold out much hope. But lo & behold! The very next day you brought me a whole brand spankin' new box of Junior Mints! Faith in mankind, restored!!
So, we'll consider that the first, but oh-so far from the last time you made me thrilled to BITS. When I count down the very best, most exciting, literally awesome days of my life, you & Lisa play a role in nearly every single one. I could never list them all, but I just want you, and Lisa, to know that not one time did it go unappreciated. Every time was just as exciting & unexpected as the time before. I have gotten to do so many things that I never ever ever dreamed I'd get to do, met people I never dreamed of meeting, and experienced actual once-in-a-lifetime moments because of you, and your career, and the love that you & Lisa share with everyone I'm your lives. It's a really REALLY special thing & you guys don't get thanked enough for it, because it's impossible to thank you enough for it! 'Thank you' is too meagre, too narrow, and will never capture the scope & spirit of what you've given over the years, but until the Oxford English Dictionary accepts my entry for the word "OMGMEGAEPICGRATEFULNESSFORALLTIMEAHHHHHHH," it will have to suffice.
Thank you for letting us be apart of your amazing career, and always giving us something to cheer about, even when everything else kinda sucked. Thank you for opening your home a million times, even when Neil & I were bratty teenagers who ate our weight in candy & left Beanie Babies strewn everywhere. Thank you for my TV, which is still the best thing that's ever happened to me. Thank you for Olympics, and Playoffs, and World Cups, and MFR replay races, and gold medals, and silver trophies, and misspelled autographs, and Oakley swag, and tickets tickets tickets, and more Junior Mints than you can shake a stick at. Thanks for letting us be part of your team.
Love Always Forever Until The End Of Time OMG,
Donna The Great