Come sit down beside me young lady and, since you asked, I’ll tell you why your old gramps spends so much time at the curling rink and watching curling on TV at this time of year.

I’m going to tell you of a small part of the tapestry that is the life of gramps. See this rug? See the long blue thread that goes almost all the way to the far end and completely to the end of this unfinished rug? It’s just one of many threads, but this one represents how curling has been woven into my life.
Look along the blue thread and see how many other threads become intertwined with it. Each represents something about curling that became part of my life…..people, friendships, teams, communities, competitions. See that red one about ¼ way from the far end, that suddenly appears and then runs absolutely parallel to the blue one? That’s the one I’m going to tell you about today, although all the others have their own story. That red thread is your Grandma. I was still a teenager when the opening mixed spiel came around and we were short a lady. I knew of a possibility, so I got up the courage to ask her. She agreed and the red thread became part of the tapestry. We curled together as part of that team and many others after…fun spiels, competitively, leagues, sparing etc. But the two of us were married and became a team for life. Your dad and uncle arrived and started their own threads, often intertwining with Gramp’s and Grandma’s threads…and now your thread is part of my tapestry. You’ve seen how our love of the game is much more than the game itself. It is friendships, community, health and something you can do until you’re as old as me. Fifty years after the red and blue threads joined, we got to celebrate with our mixed league club mates because our anniversary happened on a curling night! If you’re lucky, you’ll get to curl with or watch some of the best in the world and you won’t wonder why Gramps loves his curling and loves to watch you learning as well as the best in the world.

Photos: Gramps and Grandma on Lake Wabamun with rocks from Great Grandma and brush used by Shannon Kleibrink at the ’06 Olympics.
Where the rocks reside.