Love On the Brain (Corey Crawford)

11| Headcase

Jessica

If you are to look at someone's life, you have to look at what they've been through in order to see the person as they are. There's the whole nature vs nurture argument where you are trying to see if someone's life is made up mostly of what is given to them or what is made of them. And a good place to start recognizing these patterns is with the parents, for they have the biggest influences on both nature and nurture.

And Corey's parents were going to be in town early this December day to see their kid play some professional hockey. And lucky me, I get to meet them.

So I pull on a fitted long red skirt that stopped well below my knees and a black blouse with silver accents on it. Luckily for me I have a lot of red and black in my wardrobe so packing for this work trip wasn't too hard.

I leave my hotel room and go to find Corey who was waiting down in the lobby for me. He smiles big as I walk over to him and he looks me over.

"You look great" he claims and I feel my face start to flush. I hate that he made me feel like this.

"Thank you. Are you ready" I wonder and he nods.

"Yes mam'. Lets get to it" he smiles.

We start to walk away and Corey places his hand low on my back. I don't think anything of it until he starts to move it lower and lower making my skin tingle. I try to fight the smile that was forming on my lips, but this feeling he gave me was much stronger than I was.

We end up meeting his parents at a nice restaurant downtown before the game. He takes me to a table where his parents were waiting for us as they looked over the menu. I smile as they get up out of their seats to come see us.

"Hello sweetie, it's a pleasure to meet you" his mom says as she pulls me into a hug.

"She's a hugger" Corey insists.

"I love it" I admit as I give her a tight squeeze. She laughs a little as we break apart and I do my best to try to read the situation. And honestly there wasn't much to read into, she seemed really sweet and was a pretty happy person. Then again I'm not quite sure she is aware of how severe the situation her son was in.

"It's is such a pleasure to finally meet you. Corey has said nothing but the kindest things" his dad says as he pulls me into a hug too. Aren't they the sweetest?

"The pleasure is all mine" I smile.

"Well mom and Dad, as you know this lovely young lady is Jessica. Jess, this is my father Trevor and mother Silvia" Corey introduces.

"Let's go order some food" I suggest as I point to the table. I scoot in and Corey sits on the same side of me as his parents sit across from us. We order our food before starting a nice conversation.

"I hope our son has been good to you" Silvia insists and I smile.

"He's been great. It doesn't even feel like work" I admit.

"How did you get into life coaching" Trevor wonders.

"When I was a little girl I was obsessed with people and how their minds worked. I loved learning about personalities and picking peoples brains and getting to know how they thought. All the different thoughts we have amazed me so I took it upon myself to learn characteristics in people and how my favorite people shared some of the same ones.

I was a huge Queen fan and I was obsessed with Freddie Mercury as a little girl. I was only six when he died but I learned all about him and his life. My dad would tell me stories of him and his band and what he was like and how he was unlike anyone I will ever learn about. I was in love with such a character and what made him so special. His mind was beautiful, one of a kind. And I also wanted to know what lead to his life being like it was then eventually his death. Six year old me was heart broken when he died and I realized that the mind is a trap no matter how special the person might be. No one is susceptible to its powers and it doesn't take much to lose a handle. Even if you are the best voice in rock and roll history.

So I set out to learn about life and it's implications. What I found was way more than I was looking for. I found a guideline to how people work and why some people struggle more than others. Then I learned how to fix stuff so my mind wouldn't let me down like other people's. And now I help other people find themselves before it's too late" I explain.

"I could have told you that Corey was a head case" Silvia claims and I smirk.

"Mom" Corey gasps. But I place my hand on his leg letting him know that it was okay and I wasn't going to tell them anything that he should be and I wasn't going to lie either.

"Corey's a special case. A lot of people's problems are that they aren't capable of feeling these things or doing these things. But he's more than capable of being whatever he makes up in his mind, he's just got to figure out what he wants that to be" I explain.

"So our son is fine" Trevor asks and I smile.

"He's great" I admit as he looks down at me. I swear I saw his eye sparkle. "I've worked with a lot of great people but there's no one like him."

"Awww you're so sweet" Corey teases.

"Yeah yeah" I wave him off.

After our food comes Corey's parents tell me all of the cute little goalie stories from when he was a child. His parents didn't seem like the ones who forced him into being a goalie, he did that all on his own and devolved naturally. That's good to know because then I know that his nurture doesn't strongly outweigh his nature. Many kids are born with incredible athletic abilities and then there's the ones that are bred. Corey was both and neither of them were forced upon them. He discovered his abilities himself and acted on upon them himself. He wasn't 10 and benching 200 pounds and his parents didn't push him onto the ice and lock the door. Corey was a product of who he was and who he wants to be, and that was the best place to be.

After a wonderful meal we head to the Vancouver Canucks ice arena. I sit down with Corey's parents in the stands and we just talk the night away. They were so down to earth and so sweet, it was crazy. Obviously they had nothing to do with the problems that Corey felt like he had. I'm not even sure they knew about them.

"So how long have you been into hockey" Trevor wonders.

"About three months" I tell him and he laughs.

"I take it you're not a sports fan" he claims.

"I'm not. But I'm a people fan. And if I had to watch a sport I would want to be watching Corey play. I don't know a lot about hockey but I know he is good" I admit.

"He worked so hard to get here. It's great to see him start to find himself in the game" Silvia insists.

"I hope he finds himself outside of the game too. He's actually pretty great once you can get him to open up and stop holding himself back" I say.

"You're the only one he opens up to, trust me, we've tried. But maybe you're the one he wants to show himself to and that's why he's doing well" she claims.

"He wants to show the world who he really is. I'm not doing anything that wasn't already there" I insist.