I was born in a small Northern Alberta town to a Canadian born Scottish father. I had two older brothers. Spirit River’s population was under 1000 people then and now. Like all prairie towns it had two things, a hockey arena and a curling rink.
And so it was that my father taught his children to curl. Dad wasn’t much for celebrities and didn’t know a thing about Hollywood, but I remember him as awestruck the day a young Kevin Martin came to play the Roaring Game in Grande Prairie.
My oldest brother embraced the game and curled in leagues most of his adult life. Ken never traveled to Mexico, or the Caribbean and I don’t think he was ever east of Manitoba in his entire life. But each year, he would put aside ten days of vacation to go to the brier if it was being hosted in the west. He loved the idea that four pals could throw together a team, and by gosh if you were lucky, you might be able to come through provincials and play in that truly marvelous Canadian event: The Brier. In later years, Ken saw the brier as an opportunity to reunite family connections and talked his younger brother Dwight into joining him once a year, for some brother bonding time. This became a tradition. He met old friends and made new ones in his seating row. By the end of the week, he was like Norm from Cheers! The entire section would greet his arrival with “Ken!” embracing him like a “ long lost buddy.” He would tell corny jokes and regale them with tales and trivia of Curling past, long before there was a phone to check Ken’s dubious facts. He was the resident expert on all things curling.
Meanwhile I had established my own traditions. We curled with our teenage kids in a mixed league, and my “10-year-old” granddaughter curls in a junior league coached by her dad. I curled with my brother Dwight in Parksville, and Ken would join us to curl in summer bonspiels on Vancouver Island!
Today, I curl with my daughter, Michelle, who skips my Monday night ladies league team. We have attended curling events and bonspiels together for many years, coming from long distances for this one special time of the year. The Scotties, the Trials, the Brier, the Continental Cup; we have attended them all, even when Edmonton was the coldest city on earth! Often, we would join my brothers with tickets for events’ final weekend .
Recently we have added our teammates and friends to the mix. It is our “once a year girl time” and we have tickets for the brier in Regina. I have made my most precious friends at curling rinks.
My brother, Ken, had planned a very special brier in 2018. His daughters were coming to join him in Regina. Dawn was coming all the way from her home in Australia and Lara was coming from Vancouver. Alas it would not happen. Ken died in January of that year with his brier tickets already purchased.
So it was that Michelle and I joined Ken’s daughters, Dawn and Lara, and Dwight’s daughter Tara and went to the brier in Regina. He wasn’t there but his spirt was. They even played his favorite western theme from the Magnificent Seven over the speaker system.
We miss Ken, but a new tradition was established. Lara and Tara join our ladies’ team when they can at our annual events. Since Ken’s death we have been to the Scotties in Kamloops, the Brier in Lethbridge and have tickets for Regina in March! I am volunteering at the Scotties in Calgary and the cousins will reunite with their families to cheer on our Canadian Women.
We are a family of Canadian curlers through 3 generations. We love the game. We play, we promote, we volunteer, we cheer! It really is our family tradition!
Always glad to tell a story,
Lark Balmer
Cochrane, Alberta
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