Mother’s Day Maiden Voyage & Mild Hypothermia

 

Mother’s Day Maiden Voyage & Mild Hypothermia

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for May 10, 2026

Our weekend started off at Target Center for Game 3 of the Timberwolves-Spurs playoff series. After stealing Game 1 in San Antonio, we were feeling pretty optimistic… right up until the Wolves got completely humiliated in Game 2. The kind of loss where halfway through the third quarter you start wondering if you should just turn the TV off and reorganize the garage instead. But now we were back home in Minneapolis, the building was electric, and like every Minnesota sports fan who refuses to learn from past trauma, we talked ourselves right back into believing anything was possible.

It was my main man Luke’s turn to join me for a playoff game. One thing the Timberwolves do during the postseason is put a matching shirt on every seat and strongly encourage the entire arena to wear it. And by “strongly encourage,” I mean periodically blast random non-compliant fans onto the giant scoreboard like they’re being publicly shamed in a medieval town square. Luke decided he wasn’t about to cover up the Anthony Edwards Olympic jersey he paid good money for, so he spent most of the night gambling on the hope that nobody in the Target Center camera department noticed him.

Meanwhile, Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell and his family also decided they were apparently above the mandatory playoff t-shirt program. Smart move. When you’re the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, you probably learn pretty quickly not to blindly buy into hype just because an arena full of people is yelling that this year feels different.

After struggling through Game 2, all eyes were back on Anthony Edwards to see if he was ready to take over again. Turns out he was. Ant came out aggressive right away and finished with 32 points and 14 rebounds, looking much more like the guy Minnesota fans have convinced themselves can carry this franchise to places we usually only read about happening in other cities.

Seeing 7-foot-5 Victor Wembanyama in person honestly feels less like watching basketball and more like witnessing some experimental NBA lab project that escaped containment. The guy doesn’t even seem real. His arms are so long he can basically grab the ball wherever he wants and casually place it into the basket while everybody else underneath him looks like they accidentally wandered into the wrong age division. Every time the Wolves fought their way back into the game, Wemby would just appear again like some giant basketball praying mantis ruining everyone’s evening. I hate how much I enjoyed watching him.

The Wolves fought hard all night and Anthony Edwards definitely looked more like himself again, but every single time it felt like Minnesota was about to finally grab control of the game, Victor Wembanyama would show up and ruin everybody’s mood again. The guy finished with 39 points, 15 rebounds, and enough blocked shots to make half the Timberwolves afraid to even go near the basket. By the end of the night I found myself wondering if the Wolves can actually beat this team four times unless something completely insane happens in Game 4… like Wembanyama somehow getting ejected or something crazy like that. But that’ll never happen.

We started Mother’s Day by having lunch with Grandma Linda, and honestly it’s pretty amazing seeing how much stronger she already looks compared to just a couple weeks ago. After the hip surgery and rehab, there were definitely moments where everything felt uncertain, but now she’s back home, getting a little stronger every day, and already talking about driving again soon. Which honestly feels like the final stage of recovery for anybody over 80. Once they start talking about getting the car keys back, you know they’re officially tired of everybody telling them what to do. Happy Mother’s Day to the little lady.

I’m not totally convinced a boat ride on a 50-degree day was how Miss Sheri dreamed of spending Mother’s Day, but she knows the family loves getting out on the lake so she made the sacrifice anyway. Nothing says “Minnesota boating season” quite like wrapping yourself in blankets while pretending the sunshine means it’s actually warm outside. Still, after a long winter, just being back on Prior Lake again somehow felt worth it… at least for the guy driving the boat instead of sitting in the wind.

Abby asked if I wanted to get a picture with the family, so naturally I jumped at the opportunity before one of the boys wandered off or suddenly became “too busy” for family photos. Not totally sure Miss Sheri enjoyed my full-grown adult body sitting on her lap for this picture, but this is one of the few recent photos of all four of us together so it felt worth the temporary structural stress to her legs. At least to me it did.

Since it was our maiden voyage on the boat this year, I immediately plotted a course straight to Bird Island. Every spring the cormorants, egrets, and herons completely take the place over and it honestly feels like freshman move-in day at a college dorm. Birds flying everywhere, everybody screaming at each other, fighting over space, hauling branches around like overloaded parents carrying mini fridges, and desperately trying to claim the perfect spot before somebody else steals it. Absolute chaos. Which is exactly why we love going there this time of year.

I always find it fascinating that hundreds of birds all choose this one tiny island every single year while there are perfectly good empty trees all over the rest of the lake. Apparently this place is basically the hottest nightclub in Scott County if you’re a bird. Everybody packed together, screaming nonstop, fighting over nesting spots, pairing off, and immediately starting families practically on top of each other like they’re splitting rent in downtown Minneapolis. Nature is incredible. Also… there’s definitely a smell.

Before we left the area, we noticed the turtles were already out in full force, which honestly surprised me considering it still felt pretty cold out on the lake. Apparently they’re just as sick of winter as the rest of us. The second Minnesota gets even a tiny bit of sunshine, every living creature in the state starts climbing onto rocks and logs like they’ve been trapped indoors since November.

After the boat ride, we finally got around to the thing Miss Sheri actually wanted to do on Mother’s Day, which was sit down somewhere warm and eat a good steak at Whiskey Inferno. Smart woman. And honestly, after raising kids, surviving Minnesota winters, putting up with husbands like me, and still somehow holding families together through all the chaos life throws at them, mothers everywhere have probably earned a steak or two. 

Happy Mother’s Day!