Love On the Brain (Corey Crawford)

3| Not Like the Others

Jessica

I was a little on the front about working with a athlete, for asking them to change is hard because they thrive off the fact that they don't change. I don't know much about hockey, and even less about goalies, but I believe in humanity and digging down to find the core to see what they are truly made of. That kind of stuff is powerful enough to make anyone change.

And to start things off with Corey I was just going to follow him around for a day. See what he does, ask some questions and see if I can dig anything up. So I meet him at a little diner downtown for breakfast. I easily find him in a booth and I join him. He smiles over at me as I slide into the other side of the booth and set my purse next to me.

"Hey" he starts.

"Hello Corey, how are you doing this morning" I wonder and he shrugs. He pushes his straw around his glass of water as he stares at the table.

The first thing I've noticed about him is that he's pretty unsure of himself. And a lot of people feel like that, there's always going to be situations where is someone asks what you would do and you just won't know. Humans are instinctual, we are more into reactions than making something of the actual situation. And someone is unsure of themselves when they don't trust themselves to do the right things in those kinds of situations. That's where Corey falls into place. Every time I ask a question he won't give a real answer because he's afraid it's the wrong one. But we're all humans, there's no right or wrong answer to the questions we ask when it comes to how we feel.

"I've been better" he finally answers.

"Want to talk about it" I ask and he looks up at me questionably. "You can trust me, I can't tell anyone what you tell me" I assure him.

"This is just weird for me because I know you're doing this because it's just your job, not because you actually care" he claims. I know he felt on the fence about this whole thing, he wore it on his face, but he can do anything he puts his mind to. Even this.

"This has never been a job to me, this is my life. For example, is playing hockey just your job" I ask.

"Of course not" he insists.

"And that's how I feel about helping people. I want to help you, I want you to feel like anything this crazy life throws at you, you can take it" I say.

"But how do I know you're not just doing this because you can or because of who I am" he questions and I giggle.

"I know close to nothing about hockey, even though I've lived in Chicago for a while I couldn't tell you much about the Blackhawks. But to get to know you better, I would love for you to show me some things. That way I can understand you better and get to know you" I say and he smiles.

"I think that's a good place to start" he agrees. Finally I see him breaking down his walls for me.

I order a coffee and some eggs and bacon and we talk for a little. He eats like three plates of food and even I was impressed because it doesn't look like he eats all that much. He was very fit and very... cute. If I'm allowed to say so.

"So what made you want to take on my case" he wonders.

"A lot of curiosity. And I love a good challenge" I insist.

"You think I'm going to be challenging" he teases and I laugh along.

"I do. But no one is impossible to work with" I insist.

"You should meet my teammates" he says.

"I'm sure they're great" I say.

"They're something" he shakes his head.