Sweet Caroline (Corey Crawford)

More of the Same

Corey

"So this is the rink you grew up in" Caroline asks as she skates out to center ice.

The only thing we had planned to do this summer wasn't for a few days so I was showing Caroline around the neighborhood. Although Caroline spent the first 10 years of her life and most of her off-seasons here in Montreal, she wasn't familiar with the rural part. It was a lot smaller than the city and not exactly the same as the city itself. It's still called that, but it's not the same.

"Yeah. I was here five or six days a week for hours on end. I would sit in the crease and just stare down pucks. My friends would take shots at me until we got tired. I wasn't like that kid that was obsessed with hockey like Kaner or Jonny was. My parents never made me do anything I didn't want to and compared to other athletes I have always been laid back. But the ice was my home, it was where I felt like I belong. Everyone has a purpose and I felt like mine was to be in the net" I explain.

"You have more purpose than that" she insists.

"Now I do" I smile as I grab her hand. She looks up to me and smiles back practically lighting up the ice. She pushes her glasses back up her nose with her free hand before grabbing my hand that was holding her other one.

"What was it like growing up here" she asks and I smile.

"It was awesome, I loved it. This city loves hockey, and more specifically the Canadiens. Wherever you went someone had a red jersey on, whether it be Montreal or team canada. It really depended on the year. But everyone was pretty good at hockey around here, that's kinda why I loved playing here. I was competitive about everything, and once I found my place in net it was over. I knew that's where I wanted to be."

"Well I'm glad this place could give you what you needed growing up" she insists.

"What about you, did you like it here" I ask.

"When I was here, yeah. I always loved to explore. See new things and meet new people, but Montreal was home. I spent a lot of time moving around, when we were home we were here but my mom and I traveled with Dad as much as we can. We never missed a playoff game or a home game. I didn't go to school because my mom just taught me, she was more than qualified to teach me. She was a genius by any standard. So I didn't really have friends growing up because they would eventually get traded away or we would just stop talking. It was a little exhausting at times, but I love knowing that when times get rough I can always come back to this place. Think of the memories made skating in the rink in our yard my dad made. I can look back in memories of my mom trying to grocery shop even though we were never going to be home. I am happy I have this place to call my home" she admits.

"Isn't it crazy how we seem so different but we're actually more of the same" I ask.

"I have always noticed that. To the outside world this relationship is a unusual one. You are loud and I am quite, you are talent and I am passionate, you are going out and I like staying home. But at the same time, those aren't characteristics a healthy relationship is built on anyway. You want to build a relationship on mutual interest and common goals and dependency. I know that no matter what you will have me and I will have you. There isn't a thing in this world I wouldn't do to assure myself that you are happy. We both grew up falling in love with my father, we saw in him what most people don't and that is pretty special. We both want the future to be better than the past, and we want to get to the better future by helping each other get there. We never tear each other down or fake feelings so we don't come across wrong. What we have is as real as it gets, and that is why although we have only been together for about two months it feels like forever. We have known each other for ten months but it feels like a lifetime" she insists.

"It does. Because I feel like I know you better than anyone. I know how you like your steak cooked and what music you like to listen to when your cooking and when you're cleaning. I mean you're pretty much a open book but I could read you over and over again."

"Could you imagine if for some reason we didn't end up together. I mean... I always had a feeling we would. It would make more sense for us to be together than not to be, but it almost didn't happen."

"I think about it a lot more than I should. I try to imagine what life without you would look like, but it's so dark I can't see. Without you being my ray of sunshine everything is practically black, there is no meaning to the things in my life so nothing stands out. It's just black.

But then I remember I am the luckiest man alive and have the coolest girlfriend ever" I insist.

"I am a lot of things, but cool does not come to mind" she claims.

"I think you're really cool. You have abilities beyond most people's comprehension. And it comes across odd at first. But then I started to see something in you that others didn't have and I realized that it was you this whole time I was supposed to be with. I hate that it took so long for me to realize it and I hate that I messed up so many times before we finally ended up together. But just like this place, we come from humble beginnings and we come back to what is right" I say.

We stop skating around and she turns to me. She perfectly fits in my frame as she looks up to me, her chin on my chest. I look into those crazy brown eyes and smile big.

"I have a really good feeling that what we have is going to last longer than us" she claims.

"And what makes you think that" I question.

"Because what we have is everlasting. The love we share is one of a kind, and people don't see it because we are not putting our business out there, but how people see us together isn't what is going to make it last forever. We don't need to tell people how we feel, they just know. And love is so contagious, it can spread like a rumor and it will keep being passed on. That is how our love will be here even when we are not" she explains.

"I have to say that I totally agree" I nod.

"Glad were on the same page" she teases.