Moving Mountains (Patrick Kane)

Grounded .59

Patrick

One year ago today I was walking along the streets of the Chicago looking for something. What that is I am still not entirely sure. We were just kicked out of the playoffs in an embarrassing showing to Nashville and I didn't really have anywhere to go. Nowhere that felt like home at least. Chicago will always be home, as will Buffalo. But it's the whole "a house is not a home" feeling I had. I knew there were places I could go, but no matter where I went, I felt empty. Alone. There was this void where I knew I could be but I also knew I couldn't get anything out of it.

Then I turned that corner to see Valerie launch a empty crate across the street to foil a robbery like some undercover comic book hero and everything changed. No one had a clue who did it. It's like she was invisible to the world and she liked it that way. But someone that special can't go unseen forever. And this fateful day one year ago I was the one lucky enough to see her. To stop her and ask her what was wrong with her only to find out that I was the one who was in the wrong.

Today I decided to take Valerie home to Buffalo, she had never been before and she wanted to go to the falls with my sisters and hang out with the parents. I of course wasn't going to argue, I haven't been home for a while and the season was over so I had nothing else to do. Plus I think it would be cool to be in New York on the same date our paths first crossed a year later. Just to see how far we have come.

"You have a beautiful home" she mentions as walked around my childhood house. "I can tell you had a lot of great memories here."

"I do. I was lucky to have grown up the way I have. To have this house and a family. I never took into consideration how blessed I was. Sure there were times I hated my parents and I would rather die then have to share anything else with my sisters. I had those moments where I would want a different family but I knew I couldn't survive without them. I took for granted all they sacrificed for me, and all I want to do now is just to make them proud. Coming back always gives me this grounded feeling" I admit.

"It's good to be grounded, but not tied" she explains.

"I'm tied to you" I try.

"Ties are meant to hold people down. I don't want to keep you in one place or to hold you back. I want to be someone who flies beside you. Who you can grow with" she says.

"We will. It's been only a year and look how far we have come. Neither of us could be here without the other. The very paths we were walking have all but disappeared. Now they merge and I'm okay with that. Maybe tied together isn't the best way to look at it. Maybe we're... soulmates" I say.

"Soulmates" she asks.

"Yeah. There's no real logical explanation. When we met you hated me and I didn't have the slightest clue how to handle you. I was living in a world I created to protect myself but all I was doing was lying. The only way I can explain the way our two worlds meshed was that our souls chose each other long before our hearts ever did. And the soul will always be louder than the heart" I insist.

"I would have to agree" she smiles. "A heart can be broken and a mind swayed, but a soul. A soul is pure from the moment we're born and will stay true long past the time we leave this earth. The soul is the only thing that can survive death. And that's why it's important to see your soul, what I yearns for, what it can't stand. Because at the end of the day we're just vessels. When two souls come together isn't he way ours has... well there's no denying it" she admits.

"Who would have thought those words would be coming out of your mouth" I tease as she blushes.

"I'll admit my idea of being in a relationship with anyone made me sick. I used to think love was a curse that was placed on people who needed to suffer. Because in what world does feelings like this make anything better? It's scary, it's confusing, it makes me sick to my stomach. Only evil people would wish love upon someone else. To feel so helpless, so weak.

Now I see I was partially wrong. Love can make you feel those things and so much worse. But it is also worth it. To find someone who touches your soul in the way you have. I would go through anything to keep it, even if it makes me feel sick" she admits.

"I would never hurt you, you know that right" I ask.

"Not on purpose of course. Pain comes with every ounce of love. The pain of having to watch you leave. The pain of wanting to tell you every way you make me a better person and not being able to. The pain that one day we won't be able to tell each other I love you because one of us will be gone.

But in all that pain is something that makes it all worth it" she claims.

"And what's that" I wonder.

"That's the great thing about love. We have the rest of our lives to figure it out" she smiles.

Once I was done showing her around we head over to the falls. I've been many of times, even brought the Stanley cup here. But she had plans with my sisters to go to the mountains in upstate New York for the next few days and it was our anniversary if you even want to call it that. So we decide to become one with nature.

"It's beautiful" she sighs as she watches the water disappear below us.

"Kinda scary" I admit. I don't think I've been this close to the water before.

"The best things are" she claims.

"You do scare me" I tease as she nudges my side. "But I wouldn't change a thing about you."