God Bless The Broken Road (Jonathan Toews)

God Blessed the Broken Road

June 2023, Chicago, Illinois. NHL draft day.

Maisie

"Are you nervous" I ask as Jackson squirms in his seat.

"Nervous? No I'm not nervous. Why would I be nervous" he says quickly and I laugh at him. I had to have fun too you know.

"Mommmm" he whines and I try to get a straight face together.

"Sorry, I'm serious now" I say and he nods.

"Thank you" he replies and I bust out into laughter once again. I'm such a terrible mother.

Today was draft day and Jackson was a little uneasy. He wanted to go high but he also wanted to go to the Hawks. They haven't had a losing season since 2006 and hasn't had much luck in the draft lottery thanks to that. I guess that's a good problem to have. I turn to Jon who was beside me typing away on his phone and nudge him like a kid until he pays attention to me.

"I have good news" he smiles.

"What's up" I wonder.

"The Hawks traded up to the second spot" he says and my eyes light up.

"Seriously? What did they give for that" I wonder.

"Their first and second round pick this year plus those second and third pick next year" he reads off his screen.

"That's exciting. Hopefully they pick Jackson" I sigh. I feel a tap on my shoulder and nearly shit myself when I look up. Samuel stood there happy as ever with his arms wide open. He was looking really good since he left for college last year.

"Sammy" I scream jumping into his arms. He wasn't sure if he could make it here in time and I'm so happy he was able to. He's been studying at Harvard to be a law major making this momma super proud. He wanted to help people and by damn he was going to do it. He was twenty now and I can't believe he's grown up so much, but he's always been pretty mature.

"Mom, I want you to meet my boyfriend Nick" he beams and I raise my eyebrow. They were just talking last time I checked, now they're a item? I like it. Nick was a tall boy with dark brown hair and green eyes, nice build. I met him once on face time but that's about it.

"Hello Nick, nice to finally meet you" I say pulling him into a hug.

"You too Mrs. Toews. Sam has so many great stories about you guys" he says hugging me and shaking Jons hand.

"You're not gonna hurt my boy right. Because I was quite the enforcer in my days" Jon warns never letting the poor kids hand goes.

"Oh shut it you giant teddy bear. You wouldn't do shit" I laugh. Sam catches up with Jackson before taking his seat and lacing his fingers through Nicks. They were such a cute couple.

"Oh look, Everly is on" Jon laughs while pointing to the floor. Ever since she was a child she never stopped talking and now she's adamant she's going to be a sports broadcaster. Only twelve and already has more of her life planned out than most adults. But she's a strong soul, asks the right questions and loves making people feel good about themselves. The Hawks even gave her a segment for BHTV and its quite popular. She writes her own questions and that's all fine and dandy until Jon slips in a question of his own. She waves up to us and we all wave back. Her and Jackson are still really close and I know she wants him to stay here with us. We all do.

Mason chills on my knee playing on his phone. But Mason isn't like most ten year olds, he uses his phone to make music. He writes sheet music to go home and practice on his piano or writes poems that turn into song lyrics. Quite the creative little boy, plus he has a great tenor voice that is defiantly not from his dad who sounds like a beached whale.