Community Spirit

I know this is a film and photography blog, but I just want to get a quick message out. To cut a long story short, my good friend Helena's hip popped out of place at Sunday's Phoenix game, meaning an A&E trip. Now, I'd like to say thank you.

To every single person in that rink who helped us, supported us, or asked after us, THANK YOU! It was appreciated immensely.

Special thanks have to go to Jason, who kindly transported Helena and I to A&E in his wheelchair accessible car, meaning we didn't have to get an ambulance out. If you read this, you are a lovely person and we can't thank you enough for your help.

And a big thank you to Richard and Yolanda, who joined us at A&E after the game (we left at the end of the first period) and helped Helena deal with the pain, as well as keeping us both entertained through the rather lengthy visit.

So, what's this got to do with community spirit?

I've been told by various relatives, of a time when people would routinely call in on older relative or neighbors, who'd look out for each other during bad weather etc. You just don't see that very often now. But the hockey community should be very proud. People made sure that Helena got the help she needed, and a fair number asked after her. Word can spread quickly in an ice rink, and when the message got to us that all these people had been asking after Helena, it brought a smile to both our faces.

Helena and I have a group of friends we call our Phoenix family, because of how well we get on and how welcoming they've been to both of us this year. And now I understand that nickname more than ever, families look out for one another, as do communities, and I can now use both words to describe the lovely people I see in the rink every week.

So to those that say community spirit is dead, I urge you to talk to some ice hockey fans, because I bet there are a lot of stories like this one out there.