Rise Up (Jonathan Toews)

46| You're My Hero

Ariana

There's a lot of parts about life that I love. In fact there's very few things I don't like. But one of my favorite things ever is teaching kids how to play hockey. I don't get paid much and it's not that often that I get to do this, but every chance I have I sign myself up for teaching the rec classes. And it's not like I have a team, we don't do games and we don't do intense stuff. This is more of a how to skate and how to hold the stick type of class. Some kids are more advanced than others, but all kids just want to play the game they love and I get to help them with that. Here is where they find their love for the sport, and here is where they come back to when they get lost along the way.

So I lace up my skates and take the ice at Johnnies. I meet up with the kids and we introduce ourselves before we stretch out so no one pulls a muscle. We start with laps just to warm up and I skate around with them. My favorite little girl comes up to me and runs into my legs. She grabs on to me and I start to stop us before she hits the ice or I hit someone else. I laugh as I help her to her own two feet and she just had the biggest smile on her face. When they're this small with all those pads and a helmet on they look so funny. But her blonde curls spill out of her helmet and I knew just who I was dealing with.

"Miss Ari miss Ari! Guess what" she asks as I bend down to see eye to eye with her.

"What's up Emma" I question.

"I got a Jonathan Toews jersey today" she claims absolutely butchering his last name.

"That's a very good choice you made there" I wink.

"Do you think I can grow up and play like him one day" she wonders.

"Of course Emmy. Sweetie you can be anything your little heart desires. I know for a fact Jonathan wishes he was your age again. He wants to be able to skate around with his friends and get done with practice just to run up to his parents and ask them how he did. He wants to be able to enjoy the things you do. So don't worry about being like him because he wants to be just like you" I assure her.

"Really" she gasps.

"Yes" I promise.

We get practice started and like always I have a lot of fun. There's a lot of falling and a lot of really interesting conversations. Kids always have the wildest imaginations. But like always I never want it to end.

At the end of practice I do some stick handling and trick shots and every other thing the kids ask from me. It's hard to tell them no and I do miss playing more than I was willing to admit. But luckily for me this all comes to me naturally so I didn't have to try too hard and I could have done anything and they would have been amazed.

We start to release the kids to their parents and I see Jon standing by the locker rooms waiting for me. So I decide to grab Emma and take her to meet her hero. Who knows, maybe she will be the next big thing and all she needed was a little bit of inspiration. Hopefully this can be what she needs.

So I slip on my skate guards and grab Emma before telling her parents my plan. They happily agree to let me steal her away for a few minutes and I skip on over to Jon.

I thought she was going to pass out when I brought her over. I didn't tell her what I was doing so she was quite surprised. But she was really happy about it too.

"Who do you have here" Jon asks as he goes down on one knee. I nudge her towards him as she holds her hands behind her back. Her blonde curls a mess from her helmet but man she was still so cute.

"This is Emma and she got your jersey today. She wants to grow up to be just like you" I explain. She smiles up at him as she nods her little head.

"Well Emma it is such a pleasure to meet you" Jon claims. "How old are you" he asks.

"I'm six" she tells him.

"And how long have you been playing hockey" he wonders.

"This is my first year. But I'm going to keep playing until I'm good. Like you" she claims and I smile. Things like this make my heart so happy.

"Maybe one day you can be better than me" he whispers causing her to gasp. "But not if you're trying to be like me. You have to be the best you you can possibly be" he explains.

"But you're my hero" she claims.

"Oh yeah" he asks. She nods her little head and he smiles big. "Well my hero is your skating coach. And I know I'll never be like her. That's why she's my hero. But I work every day to do what I can to be the best me possible. And that's the best parts of her and the best parts of me put together. So you can be like me, as long as you're yourself too" he says.

"Okay. But I want to keep my blonde hair" she insists.

"Of course" he winks.

We return her to her parents and he signs the jersey they just got her. Once that was all said and done we take off to the apartment and he gets ready for the game tonight.

"What you said to Emma today, that was really sweet" I start as I lay out his suit for tonight. He walks out of the bathroom with his towel dangerously low on his waist before strutting over time me.

"I meant it" he assures me.

"I don't doubt it" I promise. "But how am I supposed to be your hero when you're the one who saved my life" I ask.

"Because the hero isn't just someone who saves someone. It's how they change their life. And you... you changed my life whether you want to admit it or not" he accuses.

"I know. I listened to your interview" she admits.

"You did" he smirks.

"Yeah. Whenever you talk I listen" I promise.

He walks over to where I was and wraps his arm around me and let out a grunt.

"You're still wet" I whine.

"And now you are too" he teases.

"Now I gotta change" I pout.

"I can help you get undressed" he says softly in my ear making me smile.

"I think I can get you undressed faster" I tease as I pull on his towel.

"Let's find out" he smiles.