The Burden Of Love (Jonathan Toews)

Official .40

Emilia

Today was a special day because our favorite little man was turning 6! We got back to Chicago just in time to set up his birthday party. He wanted a space theme party which I adored. The whole "out of this world" theme is one of my favorites. There's fun treats I can make and cool decorations to find. Ken chooses to have his party at Johnnies Ice House which made our life easier. We knew our way around and Jon easily got it rented out. So we invite his friends and his mom out even though she turned us down. I know it's going to take time but I believe she will realize what we're doing here is only for the benefit of Ken.

It was hard to keep our present to him a secret. Of course we got him a few things but the big thing was huge and we wanted him to be surprised. So I'm hoping his excitement for skating and eating cake with his friends will distract him.

"Jasmine sweetie can you set out the drinks" I ask her as I set out the rice crispy treats that were in the shape of stars. I went a little over board with the decorations but they always say you'll remember your kids first birthday. Even if this is a little bit different in our case.

"Yeah Emmy, I got you" she assures me and I smile. She takes off to open up all the juice boxes and waters as a wild Jon appears.

"Have you seen Kenny" he asks me.

"You lost the birthday boy" I scoff.

"No! I mean... yeah, I have no clue where he went" he admits.

"Find the birthday cake and you will find the boy" I assure him.

"Ah. Your right" he nods before taking off.

A few seconds later he returns to give me a kiss and a "I love you" before running out again. I finish up with the snacks before finding Jon sitting Ken down to explain why we can't eat the cake yet.

Once everything was set the kids start to show. Jon's parents come out and a bunch of kids from school. He had started up with hockey and a few of his teammates come over since they spend a lot of their time here anyway. I sit back and watch them skate as I try not to ruin the surprise.

"You want to give him the first part of his birthday present before we give him the big one" Jon questions.

"You think he's coming off the ice" I tease.

"If I tell him it's for a present he will" he chuckles.

So we call him over and hand him a pretty good sized box. The kid doesn't ask a single question before tearing off the wrapping paper. We help him get the box open and he nearly falls over when he sees a new pair of skates. He's been asking for a pair for a while but we wanted to make sure this was something he was going to commit to before buying him his own skates. Considering he wanted his birthday there and hasn't asked to quit hockey yet we decided to reward his passion.

Jon helps him gets his new skates on and joins him on the ice to break them in. I too pull on some skates to take a few laps. We take tons of pictures and have a really good time. Once we were tired we eat before heading to the presents. Ken gets through all of them before we tell him that he had one more left.

I hand him a bag with a bunch of tissue papers in it. Just as he was about to dig in I grab his hands stopping him. "This one is fragile, be careful" I warn him.

He slows down before getting out enough of the tissue paper to grab the gift. He pulls out a large picture frame with a piece of paper in the middle. The room falls silent as the kids didn't really know what it was but the adults did. He tries his best to read it but it wasn't all that easy.

"Sound it out baby" I tell him.

"Cert- certificate" he starts.

"Good. Keep going. Letter by letter" I insist.

"Certificate of Ad- adoping" he tries.

"Close. It says certificate of adoption" I tell him.

His eyes get really big as he turns to me. I see tears come to his eyes as they come to mine to. "Miss Emmy... you're going to officially be my mommy" he whispers.

"I am. And Jon's gonna be your dad. You have always been a part of this family but now it's official. You're a part of the family" I tell him.

He sets the certificate down before jumping into my embrace. His little arms wrap around my neck as I hold him tight. I feel him cry into my shoulder and it made my heart happy. I know this meant the world to him, meant the world to me too. For those few minutes I lost him I was so scared. I couldn't imagine my life without my little partner in crime. Now we were in it together for a long time and I couldn't wait to see what adventures we will be on.

"I love you mom" he sniffles as I smile.

"Love you too kiddo" I assure him.

He goes over and gives Jon a big hug too. The kid was a hugger. I wipe away the tears as I watch over this little family. It wasn't perfect, and I know it'll only get harder from here. Jasmine was going on her teenage years and Ken is going to get to the age where he doesn't want his mommy around. I know how that goes. But for now at least we were having a good time.

"Thank you" a soft voice says and I turn around. I see Jon's mom standing there and I try to calm my fast beating heart.

"Oh! Andrée I didn't see you there" I admit as I try to pull myself together.

"It's okay sweetie, you don't have to act strong for me. That was a beautiful moment, enjoy it" she insists.

"I should be the one saying thank you" I tease.

"You just helped me get my first grandchild. You have taken my son who I was sure his only relationship was going to be with hockey and you helped him find something bigger than the game. I used to beg him to tell me about his life that wasn't hockey and now all he talks about is the kids and you. So thank you" she claims.

"You're welcome" I smile.