Amazing Grace (Jonathan Toews)

Nature Boy

Jonathan

I learned something very important recently. I learned that no matter what happens on that ice, life continues off of it. That even if I lose the game, I'm still winning at life. And after the first game of the Canucks series I never looked back again. I didn't let it get the best of me then we won the series against the Canucks handily. That first game became nothing but a distant memory.

And now that we were done with them, I wanted to thank Gracie for being the coolest person ever and helping me through that series. For always keeping my head on straight and making sure I'm being the best I can be. She never lets me get down and if I get too high she pulls me back to my feet. Basically, what I wanted to do was show her how much I appreciate her being in my life. How I can't do what I do without her and how much she really means to me.

So I planned a nice date for us to go out on. It was very detailed and very intriguing but it was well worth it. Trying to keep it from her was hard, but it was still a very well worth it.

She comes out of our room in a pair of jean shorts and a Blackhawks shirt. I smile big as I wave her over and quickly wrap her in a hug. I shower her with kisses and she giggles as she playfully pushes me away.

"Stop it" she laughs.

"I'm never going to stop loving you" I insist.

"Good" she smiles.

I lace my hands through hers and pull her out to the car. We hop in and I start to drive outside of the city to a little farm not too far from here. We hop out of the car and I grab her hand before pulling her up to the stables.

"Where are we" she asks.

"I have some friends who hooked me up with organic foods after I got really sick in the playoffs last year. They helped me plan my diet and stick to it. And this is their place, told me that if I ever needed anything else it was as good as mine. So I asked if I could take a few of their horses on a romantic ride and they said they'll have their best two out here for us" I explain.

"I get to ride a horsey" she gasps and I laugh.

"Yes. You get to ride a horsey" I assure her.

"I've never ridden one. I've bet on one many times, and even got a picture with the horse that won the Kentucky derby. But that's the closest I've been to a horse" she admits.

"Well today you're going to be driving a real mustang" I tell her and she smiles.

I take her to the stables where the horses were. I open up one of the doors and a beautiful block horse comes out. It already had its saddle on and was ready to go.

"She's beautiful" Gracie whispers and I look at her weird.

"How did you know it was a girl" I question.

"I may have never ridden before but I'm knowledgeable" she claims.

"Okay, well this is your horse. Her name is Sally and she's a kind horse" I explain.

"Great... now I want a horse" she claims and I laugh.

"We're really going to need to get a new place then" I insist.

I help her up and I go and get my horse. He was a big boy, the leader of the crew. He was the caretaker and was in love with Sally so I thought it was accurate that I rode this one.

I get saddled up and we head on out to the pasture. The horses knew what to do and were to go so we got to sit back and enjoy the ride. So we walk the trails of the gigantic farm the people I knew owned and we enjoyed the nature.

"I didn't know you were so into all of this stuff" Gracie claims.

"You mean nature" I ask.

"I mean, yeah" she admits.

"I'm not that open about it.

It started last year around this time when I was feeling sick. I was always throwing up and I felt weak. I wasn't even close to performing where I needed to be and I didn't know why. The team doctors said I had a gluten allergy and had to change the way I ate" I explain.

"That's why you never buy certain foods" she realizes.

"Exactly. I would grow it all myself if every living thing didn't despise Patrick. But that plan fell flat quickly so I always got eggs and other fresh ingredients shipped from here to the apartment" I say.

"And now you're a nature boy" she asks and I laugh.

"Is that what you're calling it" I ask.

"It has a nice ring to it" she smirks.

"Only you can call me that" I insist.

"Fair enough" she defends. "So what now? You just have awesome farmer friends who lets you eat their food and ride their horses. Now you're going to try to save the world" she teases.

"Save the world? I don't have that much power" I insist.

"You have a voice. And your voice has more power than you believe. People listen to you Jon, so make sure you're saying something important. Don't just talk because you can, talk because you have something to say. If you're passionate about this earth and how we treat ourselves let it be known. There is no shame in who you are, why you're like that. If people saw what I saw every day... well you'd have a lot of girlfriends" she claims and I laugh.

"I wouldn't. You're the only one for me" I insist.

"How are you so sure? There's a lot of girls out there" she says.

"They're is, and I am sure they're really great. But there's only one girl who would throw away her whole life to be with me. Only one girl who is as pure and as kind as you.

And there's only one girl I want to spend the rest of my life with. And that's you" I insist.

"Forever is a mighty long time" she reminds me.

"Not long enough" I smile.