God Bless The Broken Road (Jonathan Toews)

Day With the Cup

Jonathan

I spend the whole summer training with Jackson on the ice. He's getting bigger and stronger every day, it's really impressive actually. Originally I thought he was going to be a defenseman, but he love scoring too much. Now I'm thinking he's going to be a power forward like Big Buff or Hoss. Regardless of what he decides, he's going to be great.

"Did you know they named a lake after you" Maisie asks as we pull up to my childhood home.

"What!?! No??? How did you know that" I ask parking the car.

"I talked to your mom" she shrugs hoping out the car and getting Jackson out the back. We drove up to Winnipeg this year and it was a bunch of hours of really bad singing and Jackson asking how much longer. About two hours ago he passed out and thank god because I was about to lose it.

"Why do you talk to my mom more than I do" I laugh.

"Because she likes me better, duh" she jokes. I grab our things out if the car and bring them to the door. Jackson wakens in Maisie's arms and realizes where we're at.

"Grandma" he cheers and I laugh.

"Almost buddy" I assure him. My parents had been around a lot with the Stanley cup and my birthday being so close together. They loved taking Jackson for a night if Maisie and I wanted to go on a date or just hang out. I knock on the door and my mom answers giving Jackson and Maisie a hug before me. Maybe Maisie wasn't kidding. We get settled in and they bring the cup into the house. I find Jackson trying his best to read their names. Even for people who can read it was hard to read those names.

"Daddy" he smiles up pointing to my name in the cup.

"Yup, that's me" I smile back. A few of my friends come over and we just hang out and snack while the celebration was getting set up.

"So... you got your own lake now" my brother starts as we sit in a circle and talk.

"So I've heard" I laugh.

"What do you even do with that type of information" he asks.

"I have no clue" I admit.

"Okay then. Where is this girl and kid you never stop talking about" my friend Chris finally asks. I knew it would come up eventually but we haven't even started talking about hockey yet.

"They're at the community center setting up with my parents. They should be here any minute now" I say looking down at my watch. A second later the door opens and I hear Jacksons little feet hit the ground hard.

"Ahhh" I scream scaring Jackson as he comes around the couch. I pick him upside down and he laughs uncontrollably.

"Mommy help" he screams and Maisie appears. She starts ticking him and I thought he was going to lose it. I eventually set him down and he sticks his bottom lip out.

"Don't give me that look" I tease and he sticks his tongue out at me. Maisie comes and over and places a nice kiss on my lips causing me to smile. I brush a piece of hair out of her face as she continues to smile up at me.

"Missed you too" I tease and she hits my chest. I look around as my friends sit with their mouths wide open. Right.

"Oh yeah, guys this is my amazing girlfriend Maisie. Mae you've already met my brother, then there's Chris, Kendal, Big Tim, and the cooler Patrick" I say.

"Don't you have any lady friends" she laughs.

"You're my only lady friend" I say squeezing her side. We all sit down and talk until Jackson comes back in a red Toews jersey. He climbs in my lap as my friends stare in awe. I guess this is shocking to them considering they don't really know what we've been through the past year and a half.

"Did you have fun helping grandma and grandpa at the rink" I ask Jackson as he played with Maisie's hair.

"Yeah, because he was on the ice the whole time" Maisie mutters and Jackson smiles while nodding his head.

"Wow... it's like a little Jonathan" Mike says and I glare at him. My friends ask him a bunch of questions and he answers them all in a way only Jackson could.

"You're a smart kid" my brother admits.

"I have smart parents" he claims. We all head over to the newly name Jonathan Toews Community Center where I grew up playing hockey. So many memories from playing here and now they named it in honor of me. That's so cool. They say that hard work pays off, and boy does it. I meet with a few fans and little aspiring hockey players before changing into skates and going out there for old times sake.

"So Jonathan. You have it all, the gold medals at every possible level, the best trophies in professional sports, a great team to captain, and you're just 22 years old. What possibly could you have in mind to do next" Maisie asks skating backwards in front of me. I wasn't sure when she learned how to skate, but I'm impressed.

"I'm going to do more. I'm going to be the best leader to ever lead. I might not lead in points or plus minus, but I can lead in other things. Like last year when we got kicked out of the playoffs and Jack bought me a trophy because even though I didn't win, I still won. Even though I won, I want to keep winning. It's addicting. I just gotta find who I am and stick to that. And for me it's leading" I shrug.

"You can't force this stuff. The guys follow not because you make them but because they want to. You know how it goes, if you focus too much in scoring you don't score. Same thing with this. Just be yourself, you don't need to change. What you're doing is obviously working pretty damn well. Don't worry about what others think because I can promise that they worship you. Just... never change. Please" she begs.

"I wouldn't change a thing" I admit. We skate around and eventually it gets late. After dragging Jack out of the arena we find a nice little place to sit down and eat with my friends. Maisie takes Jackson to wash up and I order their food.

"I can't believe you have a girl and a kid" Kendal says shaking his head.

"Believe it. I'm gonna marry that girl one day" I claim.

"If you don't I'm sure a lot of guys would like to" Tim laughs.

"She's not like most girls. It took me nearly a year to wear her down. She doesn't want nice things or for me to do anything for her. She just wants me to be me and for her to be by my sidekick . It's cool" I shrug.

"She got a sister" Tim jokes and I roll my eyes. Soon enough they join us and the guys listen to Jackson tell the story of the time I accidentally took his bag to practice and had to have Maisie come back and get mine because there was no way I would fit in his things. I look around the table and realize how great my life has been. I really wouldn't change a thing.