The Presidents Daughter

Hitting the Ground

Patrick

There's some times in your life where you feel so high you don't feel like you will ever come down. You feel invincible, like you're on the top of the world. You feel like anything could happen and it wouldn't matter because you have it that good. That's exactly how I felt right now. I have a girl that's better than all the other girls out there. I had to wait for her, but I would have waited forever if it meant I could be with her for forever and a day. And she's doing great things, she makes sure that I get to experience those things with her too. As far as hockey goes I'm on pace for my best year ever. And I felt great out there, like I was one of the best players on the ice every time I'm out there no matter who I'm playing against. Then after the game I get to come home to a cup of tea and my wonderful girlfriend who has done nothing but support me and see me get better. To say that my life is perfect is pretty accurate. While there's no such thing as perfect that doesn't stop me from saying that it is. There's still some issues here and there but I have nothing to complain about. I felt like I was the luckiest man in the world...

But when you're going that good, when you're so high up off the ground, it makes hitting the bottom that much harder. And that's exactly where I find myself, on my hands and knees by the boards of the ice holding my collar bone which is for sure broken. There's no way it wasn't. I can tell by the way it hurt to breathe that it was bad. And while watching Jonny go after the guy who helped cause this freak accident was much appreciated, it doesn't change the fact that this was just a accident and that it shouldn't have happened. But it did and now I gotta see what happens next, although I'm sure it's not going to be good.

I get taken off the ice and into the training room. They get me out of the pads and jersey and I was almost sure this bone was going to snap out of my chest if I had to move it one more time. So they decide to take me to the hospital to get X-rays and see what we do next. I hop in the ambulance and we wait for the next instruction.

"What are we waiting for" I ask trying not to yell because the pain was just that bad. But sitting here doing nothing wasn't making my shoulder feel better, if anything it made it worse.

"We have special high up orders not to leave until someone gets here" the EMT says.

"Who" I wonder.

The next second the door flies open and I see Aaliyah appear in the doorway. I can see in her eyes that she had been crying and that's when I knew this was bad. She never cries, the only other time I've seen her cry in the year and some of knowing her was the night at the bar. And that was the worst thing ever so I knew this had to be pretty close to that.

She rushes over to me and grabs my face. She looks me in the eyes before resting her forehead on mine.

"Don't ever scare me like this again" she says and I smile a little.

"Sorry, I'll try to remember that next time I get hurt playing hockey" I tease.

"Now is not the time to be a ass hole" she warns making me laugh.

"I'm sorry. Just wasn't expecting you to see me like this" I admit. I never wanted her to see me at my lowest. But this... I can't think of a time in hockey that was worse than this. And we lost a game seven at home in the western conference finals last year.

"I figured your pride would be the real thing that's broken here" she jokes just trying to make me smile.

"Nope. Pretty sure it's my collar bone" I assure her.

"Does it hurt" she wonders.

"Like hell. But it can't be too bad now that you're here" I smile. She smiles back at me and I felt a little better. But only just a little.

We ride over to the hospital in the ambulance and with one look at me they knew it was broken. But they still do the X-ray so they knew what the next step was, whether it be a major surgery or just a reset. For the mean time they give me some strong pain killers and a sling to make it easier on my arm. It can't fix anything but we didn't want it to be worse either.

They send me home with specific instructions for sleeping and what to do and not to do. So Aaliyah makes us our post game tea and joins me on the couch. She looks at my collar bone being all bruised and swollen and she starts to wince. Her thing is to help people and she can't right now and I felt awful. I wish I wasn't the cause of her pain but I can't change what happened. Just what happens next.

"What can I do to help" she asks and I sigh. I didn't want this to fall on her but since were so close I should have known it would.

"I'm afraid there isn't much you can do" I admit.

"There's always something" she insists.

"How about this? Once I get surgery and start with physical therapy we can go to Hawaii and rehab there. You can get a break from the organization for a little and I can get away from the rink. It can be you and me, that's it" I insist.

"That could be fun" she smiles. "I just need you to know that while I take care of other people, you're always going to be my number one. You always come before anyone else and you're not going to have to do this alone. I'm going to be there with you, step for step, the whole way back to the ice" she promises.

"I know baby" I say as I cup her cheek with my good hand. I caress her face as she smiles at me. It was dim in here but she looked like a angel with a halo above her. And in a way she was my guardian angel. She was in lot of way actually. And I'm so thankful that with her I can get back to being as high as I was before.