I Hope You Dance (Artemi Panarin)

Down On One Knee Theory

Artemi

Christmas Eve in Chicago was beautiful. We didn't have any games for a little but it was because we had the winter classic in St. Louis on New Years and would be spending a few days there to practice outside and do promo and things of that sort.

But until then we were home for the holidays. We've already seen most of the guys at the Christmas party and Andrew and Yuila were out of town seeing family so it was just Gabby and our dogs and I. Which actually works out in my favors.

Snow falls heavily on this fine morning, making this day that much better. It was the first snow fall of the season that was actually sticking and it was beautiful.

I sit at the island of my apartment and drink tea with my beautiful girlfriend beside me. She sits under my arm drinking her own cup of tea slowly so she didn't burn herself.

"So what's the plan for today" she asks.

"How about we go play in the snow in the park" I say.

"That sounds like fun" she smiles.

We get up and get changed. I grab my coat and the little black box I've been hiding for a while and stuff it in my pocket. I find a hat and gloves and try to protect myself from the cold.

We meet up in the living room before finishing up our tea and heading out.

We get to the park and there was hardly anyone there. Most people were probably with their families giving me a quaint surrounding. It was deathly quiet as the snow silently falls to the ground.

We go to the bean and look through the snow at our reflections. I smile as Gabby wraps her arms around my waist, keeping me warm. I kiss the side of her head as we look over the city through the reflection.

"I love you so much" she says randomly.

"What makes you say that" I wonder.

"There's not a lot of moments in my life that I want to remember. I've had some good times, but hardly any of them mask the bad times I've been through. Then you came along and almost every passing second with you is my new favorite memory. Even the small things like coming to the prettiest place in the city on Christmas Eve will forever be etched in my brain like a tattoo. I love that I finally have something nice to look back on and it's not just darkness or suppressed memories. I can think of you and nothing but my happiest thoughts come to mind. I was so scared to say that I love you, and now I don't ever want to stop" she claims.

"I hope you never stop loving me" I admit.

"I could never" she claims.

I look down and see that she was already looking up at me. A snowflake lands on the tip of her nose and she scrunches it up. I knock it away for her and she giggles a little. I place a soft kiss on her lips and for the first time since we've been outside I felt warm.

"Close your eyes" I instruct.

"Are you going to hit me in the face with snow" she laughs.

"Not this time" I assure her. She takes her mitten covered hands up to her eyes and covers them.

"Okay, I can't see. Now what" she asks.

"Wait right there" I instruct. I turn her around so she was under the beans and the snow wasn't hitting her but she was now facing the city. I move backwards and look into the snow. I wrote the words "Gabriella, will you marry me" in the snow then step to the side. I pull out the ring before getting down on one knee. With the city behind me I knew I could do this.

"Okay... open them" I say and she does so. She turns around and stumbles back a little when she sees it. Her hands shoot up to her mouth and I can hear her gasp. Plus I could see her breath.

"Oh my god" she whispers making my heart beat a thousand times harder.

"Gabriella, you are the most exquisite human being I have ever had the honor of getting to know. From the first time my eyes rested on you I knew you were the one. Like a flower I've watched you blossom into this beautiful and powerful woman before me. You were in a world of firsts when it came to this relationship and you took every single challenge and passed them with flying colors. You were so worried that I wouldn't want you because of who you were, but that never mattered to me. I love who you were because it helped you get to where you are now, and that's this amazing woman who I love with all of my heart.

I cannot imagine a future without you in it. That's why I'm down on one knee today. For the year and a half we have been together I learned more than the 23 years before that. You opened my eyes to who I really am and the world I'm in. You are the reason I play more times than not and I always know I have a home to come back to in you.

So Gabriella, will do one more new thing for me, and agree to marry me" I ask.

"Yes" she whispers with a nod and let out a breath of relief.

"Yeah" I ask just to make sure.

"Yes Artemi, I would love to marry you" she replies softly.

She takes off her glove and I take the ring out of its box. I smile big as the ring was a perfect fit, I was hoping it was.

Gabby grabs my face and pulls me into a deep kiss. I wrap my arms around her waist as she softly caresses my face.

"I'm so happy" I admit and she laughs.

"That makes two of us" she smiles. She pulls me back into a kiss and I couldn't help but smile.

"You know what would make this better" she asks.

"What" I ask a bit too desperately.

"This" she says grabbing a handful of snow and launching it at my chest.

"Oh it's on" I yell and she laughs.

I chase her around the bean throwing snow every so often. She gets me a few good times too but I finally catch up to her. I lift her over my shoulder as she starts laughing really hard.

"Put me down" she giggles.

"Never" I claim.

"Fine" she huffs as I walk back to the bean. I set her down and she adjusts her hair so it wasn't everywhere again. I move a piece of hair from her face and she stares into my eyes.

"I love you so much" she says again.

"I love you too."