Always Something There to Remind Me

July 16, 2011

The sound of someone running through the hallway woke me up.

“Mom! Mom! Wake up!” Aiden said coming into my room. “You’re marrying daddy today! You get to dress up like a princess!” he said, jumping onto my bed. “Aren’t you gonna get up?” he asked, crawling under the covers next to me.

“In a minute,” I said, placing a kiss on his forehead. “Let’s just lay here for a little bit,” I suggested, not yet ready to deal with the inevitable chaos.

“Hey mom?” Aiden asked after a few minutes. “Will the weird photographers be there?”

“Let’s hope not,” I sighed. While Aiden was a total ham and loved attention, especially when there was a camera around, I absolutely hated the paparazzi. It wasn’t so much that they were taking pictures…that I had expected, we were with the Penguins’ captain after all. What bothered me was them stalking us all day, every day ever since they found out who Aiden really was. During the parade, people just thought he was Marc and Vero’s relative. Most of them thought Sid was gay since he’d never been seen out on anything that resembled a date with a female since he moved to Pittsburgh, so the thought of Aiden being his son never really crossed their minds. Once someone got the word out though that they saw me leave Sid’s house with Aiden one day, they became vultures, always asking how we knew Sid, and trying to get any other info out of us. I was so upset that I refused to leave my house at all for a couple of days.

Thankfully, things were much calmer once we got to Nova Scotia. They saw Sid as a regular person and pretty much left him alone there. Sure, there were autograph seekers (not that I expected anything different), but it was always during more appropriate times. Spending the summer there with Sid and Aiden as a family was relaxing. Aiden loved the fact that Sid had a dog. He’d wanted one for while, but we couldn’t get one because there were no pets allowed in our apartment. In fact, Aiden seemed more interested in playing with Sam than he did spending time with Sid.

Unfortunately, that summer went too quick. It seemed like it was just yesterday when we were celebrating Sid’s first “official” Father’s Day, and before we knew it, his birthday weekend popped up. We went out to dinner with his parents and Taylor the night before, since he would be too busy with the Cup to go out on his actual day. The whole table had tears in their eyes when Aiden gave him his gift from us. A couple of weeks before that, I had taken Aiden to get his last name changed from Valesquez to Crosby. Instead of telling Sid about it, I saved the certificate of the name change and framed it so Aiden could give it to Sid.

His two days with the Cup were crazy. The festivities started bright and early on his birthday. Sid invited Max for the weekend, and he showed up with the Cup that morning, coming from Marc’s party. Max, Sid, Troy, and the Cup all flew by helicopter to the HMCS Preserver. Aiden and I went with Trina and Taylor in the car to the ship. Once we got there, the crowd sang Happy Birthday to Sid, who was then given a couple coins and some birthday cake before we all went to eat breakfast with members of the military and some of his former coaches. After breakfast, the guys rode in a couple convoys to Citadel Hill. Sid shot off the cannon at noon, and then we were on our way to the Children’s Hospital. The kids gave him a small present and a birthday hat to wear (which he did with a smile) when he walked in.

When he was done at the hospital, it was on to the parade, which was massive—an estimated 50,000 to 65,000 people showed up that day. As Max so eloquently put it, it was “like Woodstock, only for Sidney Crosby.” The arrival at Cole Harbour Place was met with yet another rendition of Happy Birthday. The guys answered some fans’ questions, and then Sid threw on some goalie gear to play street hockey for the Cup with some of his friends. After what seemed like the longest day ever, we had gone on a private cruise with the rest of the Sid’s family and his friends to end the day.

His second day was much more relaxed and more private. We started the day going to the Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame to see the exhibit they put together for Sid. Of course we had to get some pictures of Aiden with Sid’s infamous dryer. It was neat being able to see all the from when he was a kids like the pictures and trophies. After we got done at the exhibit, we spent the rest of the morning driving around to get pictures with the Cup at different places before ending his time with the Cup at a private party at his house.

Almost two weeks later, Sid finally received the Order of Nova Scotia. He had originally gotten the recognition at the end of last year, but he couldn’t make it to the investiture ceremony because the Penguins would have been on their way back to the United States from Sweden since they had taken part in the NHL premiere. The day after the ceremony, Aiden and I packed to go back to Pittsburgh while Sid packed to go to the Team Canada orientation camp.

The day after Labor Day marked Aiden’s first day of school. At first I was worried about it, since Aiden was such a momma’s boy. I thought we were going to have to drag him to his classroom kicking and screaming, but he was really excited about going. In fact, he’s the one that practically pushed us out the door before running off to find some new friends to play with.

September also marked Aiden’s first time playing hockey. He had been out skating with Sid and a couple of teammates before and liked it, so naturally Sid didn’t hesitate to sign him up for a local league when Aiden asked if he could play. Sid was so ecstatic that Aiden wanted to play the same sport he loved that he wanted to go sign him up as soon as the words came out of Aiden’s mouth…he was a bit disappointed when I told him he had to wait until the next day since it was already almost nine at night. You could tell Aiden definitely inherited his father’s skills, but after skating as a “regular” player for the first practice, he wanted to play goalie “just like grandpa and Taylor.”

After Christmas, Sid got the call from Steve Yzerman telling him that he was officially a member of Team Canada, as well as an alternate captain for the squad. Once he got the call you could almost see a weight being lifted off his shoulders. Everybody and their brother knew that he was going to make it, but of course he didn’t want to believe any of them until it was official. Not only was he excited to play for his home country, but I could tell that he was excited to have the chance to prove that he should have been named to the 2006 Olympic team. Unfortunately, his play during the tournament wasn’t quite as good as he had hoped it would be. He’ll tell you that he wasn’t worried at all about his play because he knew he had some great teammates, but I knew that he was pissed at himself. Then, of course, he would be the one to score the gold medal winner against the United States…figures.

At the beginning of April, Aiden graduated from pre-school. His classmates were a little star struck when half of the Pittsburgh Penguins walked in to watch the ceremony. The guys ended up staying for at least another hour after it was over to sign autographs and chat with the kids. Then we had to wait another fifteen minutes for our little social butterfly to say goodbye to all his friends. The whole car ride home all Aiden talked about was how excited he was for next year when he would be able to go to school every day instead of only three times a week, and his upcoming birthday.

Aiden insisted that since he was turning the big 5, he wanted a huge party. Whenever any of the guys asked him what he wanted for a present though, he would just shrug his shoulders and tell them “nothing.” I would find out later that Sid got him the only “present” he had really wanted. During one of their rare father/son nights in, they had been camping in the basement when Sid asked him what he wanted. Aiden’s response was that all he wanted was for his “mommy and daddy to live together and get married and have more babies so he could have someone else to play with.” He wasn’t too amused when Sid laughed at his answer. But his amusement quickly changed to excitement when Sid ran upstairs to get the ring he had bought weeks ago.

I was surprised when Sid proposed. Not surprised because he proposed, but because of the way he proposed. Like most girls, growing up I had always pictured my fiancé taking me out to dinner at some nice, fancy restaurant that we could hardly afford and getting down on one knee after dinner to ask me to marry him. My proposal ended up being much more low-key. After Sid had shown Aiden the ring, they spent the rest of the night planning it out. A couple of days before Aiden’s birthday, Sid and I had been watching the morning news when we heard Aiden yell “oops!” from the kitchen, quickly followed by “mom, I need some help!” I was shocked when I walked into the kitchen to see not a mess, but Aiden sitting at the table with a huge grin on his face and “Will you marry my dad” spelled out on the kitchen table in Post Alphabet Cereal letters…which leads us the why we’re here today.

I stepped in front of the mirror to take in my appearance one last time. My eyes traveled from the waist length two teir tulle wedding veil with satin ribbon edging on my head, down to the top of my white, strapless satin gown that seemed to take forever to find, and then down to the baby blue ribbon tied around my waist, currently hiding my stomach. A grin spread across my face as my gaze landed on my tiny bump in the mirror. In about five months, Audrina Catherine would make us a family of four, just in time for Christmas. A soft knock sounded on the door before it was slowly opened.

“Oh sweetie, you look gorgeous,” Trina said as she walked over to me, tears in her eyes already. Vero, Melissa, and Melinda all followed her in. Ksenia Gonchar and her two daughters showed up shortly after. Even though they had moved to Ottawa after last season, she and I had quickly become friends when I first started getting serious (again) with Sid, mainly bonding over our kids. Her youngest daughter, Victoria, would be my flower girl today.

“You look pretty,” Aiden complimented Victoria from his new perch on his grandmother’s lap.

“Somebody’s got a little crush,” Melinda said, smiling at him.

“No,” Aiden responded. “She’s too young for me. Uncle Max says that I would be a sugar daddy then, and I don’t want to share my sugar.”

“Really?” I asked, trying to hold my laughter in. “And what else did Uncle Max teach you?”

“He told me that since Uncle Marc still hasn’t put a ring on it, I still have a chance with Vero,” Aiden grinned. “He even told me how to get her to take me out for pizza!” Jumping off of Trina’s lap, he ran over to where Vero was standing. “You look so sweet you’re givin’ me a toothache,” Aiden smiled wide at her. “And, if you were a new sandwich at McDonalds, you'd be called the McGorgeous," he continued, this time batting his eyelashes for effect.

“Oh my,” Vero said, smiling. “You sure do have a way with the ladies. How about we go get pizza sometime this week, and we’ll even make Uncle Marc and Uncle Max pay for us?” she asked, giving him a peck on the cheek, which earned another grin and a nod in confirmation from him. Another loud knock on the door interrupted our laughing.

“You look beautiful,” Mario said as he walked into the room. “Ready?”

“Yes,” I grinned, linking my arm with his as he walked me towards the doors that would eventually open to the rest of my life.