Tuesday, February 07, 2023

The miner

Back in ringette days before I was a coach I knew a fellow in the stands who moved to Flinflon, Manitoba. "I have a friend who worked there," I told him. "He says Flinflon is beautiful."

It was. But the guy in the stands was slowly going crazy. He was a miner in Flinflon but had to leave a young family to do it. He moved his father in to help with the house, but his woman didn't marry an old man from the Maritimes and he knew it. 

The house in this province was finally sold and the entire family moved out to Flinflon. As far as I know my daughter is still Facebook friends with her former ringette teammate. But my stands-buddy moved to Flinflon long before Zoom was so much as an idea. 

I never envied him, even after they bought a cottage beside a lake. 

"My family's here somewhere -- gotta keep digging!"

No comments: