Will you indulge me as I share a fond memory about reading week? Outside of the local church family and inter-varsity Christian fellowship I did not socialize much with my classmates at Lakehead University although I made good friends and enjoyed my time with them as limited as it was. I kind of had my hands full keeping up with my brainiac classmates and erudite professors – leaving little time for extra curriculars. But the Monday of reading week in February 1977 was a wonderful exception. A classmate invited me to go to an outdoor rink and shoot a puck around. It was glorious blue-sky day with temperatures around the freezing mark. That was considered mild in that environment. He had a car and off we went.
Upon arrival we found two elementary age youth already on the ice. The four of us spent about 4 hours together. Back and forth – back and forth. The fact that my hockey skills were nearly non-existent did not really matter in that setting. With the traditional boots for goals we played until we were fully spent. Finally, the two “old timers” could handle no more and we said good-bye. We left the two youth as we found them, exercising and developing their skills.
And then in the car on the way home, my friend Doug said, “Wait a minute. Why weren’t those kids in school? It is only reading week for university. Elementary and secondary schools are in session. We just contributed to truancy. I hope that we don’t get arrested.”
You may not find it that funny, but I laughed until I couldn’t breathe. The whole time it never occurred to me that those two youngsters should have been in school!
On Tuesday and for the rest of the week it was back to the books, working out answers and checking the back of the textbook in the naïve hope that I had stumbled upon the correct result. But for those few hours on that February Monday in 1977 I did not have a care in the world.
The Centre Line 