Just a thought… Hope is being able to see that there is light, despite the darkness. [Desmond Tutu]

You can watch a video version of this journal on my Facebook page, or here on YouTube.

Now, in case you think “sadness” is that feeling, you’d be right, but it’s not strange to us. Plus, we’re fighting off the May 11th and Mother’s Day emotional minefields in a different way (or ways) this year. Stay with me – this’ll be fun.

So Rob wakes up yesterday morning and says, “I had the most vivid dream: I dreamt the Leafs made it into the second round of the playoffs and beat Tampa Bay to get there.” Of course I laugh with him, because being the Leafs fan he is, there have been plenty of nightmare scenarios. And given that he remembers their last Stanley Cup win, back when Canada was celebrating its Centennial, and the most recent elevation to the second round, which was in 2004 before I even started working with Mike Cooper, it’s been a long time.

Superstitions are a funny thing. Rob isn’t overly cautious, but he does make a point of wearing his hockey fan gear – a shirt or fleece Giant Tiger pyjama pants – each game.

But on Saturday night, as the Leafs and Bolts were getting ready for overtime, he chose that break to take Dottie for a quick walk to relieve, well frankly, both of them of the pressure they were feeling for entirely different reasons.

The walk wasn’t so short after all. When he hadn’t returned, but overtime had started, like a good wife, I paused the game. While I continued to edit my Drift with Erin sleep stories on my laptop, he kept walking. And then, the final score popped up on my screen via a Toronto Star breaking news tweet:

They’d won. I got up and ran to the door, looking for Rob to return. When he finally did, I had taken away his phone in case he was texted (which, it turns out, he was, by his diehard Habs/Leafs fan brother in Montreal). But the surprise was not ruined and Rob hooted loud enough for all of the neighbourhood to hear through our screen doors when the Leafs scored to win the first round.

But here’s the very important realization that Rob came to: having gotten out of his jammie pants to walk Dottie, he watched the extra minutes in his street clothes. And guess what? They still won.

This is quite a revelation.

It turns out – and hear me out here – that it doesn’t matter if we have jerseys or pants on, hats backwards, inside out for a rally or no hat at all, the game is going to go as it goes, without any interference or help from those of us urging our team onward.

It reminded me of a tweet that Jamie Campbell, who is one of the Blue Jays Sportsnet team, put out a few weeks ago after someone tried to lambaste him for saying the Jays could sweep. They did not, as it turns out, and this chucklehead blamed Jamie, since his mere mention of the possibility obviously affected the outcome LOL. I tweeted in response that if Jamie had that kind of power, would he please just say “lottery winner Erin Davis” and I’d be grateful. Now, I could meet him halfway and buy a ticket, but if Jamie truly has those kinds of powers, he can make a ticket fall into my wallet.

Sports fans are weird. We are. We plan our days and weeks around game schedules and try to stay in a cone of silence if, by chance, the big game is on the PVR. But here’s where we kind of messed up: we are going away tomorrow for 8 days to a place with lots of TVs but too many distractions to watch them. Yes, Las Vegas. It’s been a long, long time, and with our travel schedule being curtailed in the most delightful ways by lots of summer fun here at home, we decided to bite the bullet and go. So, before the win Saturday, I tried to calm Rob’s nerves saying this: “If the Leafs lose, you still get to go to Vegas. And if the Leafs advance (which they have) your biggest problem will be finding the game. Poor you.” Maybe they’ll even have the coronation on somewhere, too. After all, people will bet on anything.

Here’s the thing: whatever the Leafs do, they’ll do without us. Fortunately, this means that Rob won’t have to wear his pyjama pants when we’re out seeing the town. I mean, he wouldn’t be the only one in ‘em, but still, not my husband.

So, enjoy your May and I’ll be here on Facebook, Insta, Twitter and the usual haunts while we’re gone. It’s all good. The delightful Winnie the Pooh is the latest story on my Drift with Erin sleep podcast and this Thursday, Lisa and I have a fresh episode 18 of Gracefully and Frankly for you, so yeah, I can use this break. And thanks for being here one more time. Talk to you again soon! GO LEAFS!