Monday, April 18, 2011

Chapter 48

Two weeks had gone by and it was the day before the 3pm deadline. I was in my office with Lauren, talking about the baby more then anything, when Stan called me into his office. So I walk over to his office and get in there to see Jack sitting on the couch.

“Hi Jamie,” Stan says when he sees me
“Hi, um I don’t think I like this,” I say look back and forth between him and Jack
“Don’t like what?” Stan asks, although he knows what I mean
“Jack is in here the day before the deadline…are you getting traded?” I ask him
“Jamie,” he says getting up from the couch, by then I knew it, and am in tears
“Are you?” I ask again, he shakes his head yes and pulls me into a hug
“JJ, please don’t cry, it’s making it harder,”
“I’m sorry, I’m extra emotional right now,” with my hand on my stomach
“Jack wanted you to be the first to know, before anyone else,” Stan says as I sit on the couch with Jack
“Aw, how thoughtful, but I kinda hate you right now,”
“Oh, but you wont hate me when you hear who your getting,”
“Wait, where are you going anyways?”
“Florida,”
“The Panthers? I don’t know anyone from them,”
“We already did another trade with the Panthers, that player is going to Washington,”
“We’re getting a crappy Capital? What do you mean Jack, I don’t like them!” I say laughing
“Well you don’t know,” Jack says
“As long as it’s not Ovie, but I still hate you for leaving,”
“Nope, I don’t think your THAT lucky,”
“So, who are we getting?” I ask Stan
“#52”
“Mike Green?! How did you manage that one?”
“With Boudreau getting fired, they are “cleaning house” I guess and doing some trades,”
“Wow, he’s a good player too, we all know I hate the Caps, but I’m a fan of him,”
“See, and you’ve forgotten all about me,”
“Not even Jack! I could never, but why so far away? You were supposed to be here when Easton is born!” I say standing up
“I’ll come back! No offense to my new team, but there’s no chance for the playoffs, so I’ll be out to visit again soon,”
“And if you forget about us, I’ll be so mad at you!”
“I won’t, I never could,” he says standing up to give me a hug, as Easton kicks
“Ouch! I felt that,”
“See! He knows so he’s mad at you too!”
“Smart boy there,”
“Why did you want to tell me first?”
“Because besides the guys, you’re the other person that I’m closest with, and I just wanted to tell you first,”
“So, why don’t we go to the locker room to tell everyone else, is that ok?” Stan asks

“You guys decent in there? Captain’s wife is with me,” Stan says slightly opening the locker room door, Jack laughing
“Psh, captain’s wife…way to make me sound all professional,” I say
“Well, it’s true! Come on, let’s go in,”

The 3 of us walk into the locker room, I go right over and sit in between Jon and Kaner, as Stan makes the announcement of Jack’s trade, causing me to tear up again. He also adds that Green will be joining the team, and will arrive in Chicago tomorrow afternoon. There’s mixed emotions in the locker room, happy to see Mike be a part of the defending champs, but also sad that Jack is leaving, he was closest with Jon and Kaner, and if you put him with Sharpie or Burish, it was a crazy handful of trouble.


I was at the 6-month mark, Dayna at 5½ months. Abby and Carly had been our saviors when it came to all the questions we had, and when Jon and Brent were busy with practice, they joined us to the birthing classes, which was awesome of them. I was getting more nervous for the arrival of Easton, but I was also excited. Dayna and I had done awesome at rocking the cute maternity clothes. Her and Brent were also planning a small summer wedding, before their son is born.

Mike had fit in well with the guys, they all got along right away; from talking to Mike, he was pretty happy to get out of Washington, he was a nice guy too, I knew he’d be a good fit here, even though I missed Jack. St. Patrick’s Day weekend was here and while the guys had practice, I drove out to O’Hare to pick up my parents, who I was beyond excited to see. The Canes are in town for the game tomorrow night, and then the Penguins would be here on Saturday.

My parents were excited to be out here for a few days, especially since they didn’t come out for Christmas, it’s always good to see them. Jon met up with us for lunch at Grand Lux after he finished at practice, then we all headed to the house to relax.

Game day against the Canes was a success, winning 4-3, and before we knew it, the Penguins were in town. My parents and I went to the arena that day for practice, because my dad wanted to meet some of the guys and knew that I know them, so I joked with him saying I was glad they only came out here to use me to meet the Pens.

“Here, go through here, and sit in the stands, I’ll go down and get the guys, if I can manage to steal them away for a few,” I tell my parents as we get to the ice
“Ok, just anywhere?” my mom asks
“Yeah, anywhere is fine,”

“Hey Kris!”
“Jamie, hey! You look great!” Kris says giving me a hug
“Oh, thanks! Hey listen, my parents are here and my dad is like itching to meet some of the guys, do you think I can steal a few of ya’ll for a couple minutes?”
“Yeah, we’re just hanging out waiting for your boys to finish, who does he want to meet?”
“I don’t know, he met you and Jordan at the wedding, so whoever you can get,”
“Ok, give me like 5 minutes,”

Exactly 5 minutes later, he comes out with TK, Neal, Talbot, Engelland and Jordan.

“Hey, look at you!” Jordan says with a hug
“JJ! You look amazing!” Max says, before I say hi to the rest of the guys
“Hi! Thanks guys!” I say as we walk to get back upstairs to ground level
“So, you said it’s a boy right?” TK asks
“Yep, he’s due June 18,”
“What are you guys naming him?” James asks
“Easton,” I say proudly
“Like the equipment?” Deryk asks
“Sure, I forgot about that until Soupy said something the other day, but I like it,”
“It’s a cool name, definitely different,” Kris says as we walk through the arena

We all get out to the seats and sit behind where my parents are, my dad is too into watching practice to even notice us behind them, when he finally turns around. They talk for a bit and joke around, and then Talbot hands a shirt to my dad, that’s signed by all the players, as well as Bylsma and Lemieux, pretty sure my dad’s day had been made.

After dinner at home with my parents, Jon had made his way to the arena to get ready for the game, my parents and I weren’t far behind him. We always ended up having to go to the arena early with Jon so we could still park in the players lot, where I always park, because they’ve been starting to close that gate earlier.

The game against the Pens started out fast, with both teams scoring 3 goals, by the end of the 3rd, it was tied at 5, and ended up going to a shootout. Jon and Kaner scored on the shootout, while Crosby scored the only one for the Pens. I heard it all from Jordan, who always gives me crap after we beat the Pens.

4 comments:

  1. As soon as I saw the pic I knew Green was coming to the hawks in this story! Great chapter Jamie!

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  2. I hope this doesn't end at 50!

    ReplyDelete