The Spotlight

Some people can cope easily to being in the limelight every day, others can’t. For some people, becoming famous brainwashes them. You can watch your best friend make it to the big leagues and his entire personality changes before your eyes. There’s nothing you can do to stop it.

Sidney grew up in the spotlight. By the time he was fifteen, there were books written about him. He was Canada’s poster boy. Everybody knew who Sidney Crosby was, and everyone loved him. He was destined to do great things. It was so much pressure for a kid. I was always impressed when he didn’t break down frequently. But when the stress did get the best of him, it turned everything upside down. Because when it got bad, it got as bad as it could get. And when it was good, it seemed as good as it could get.

I met him on his third night in Rimouski. He had come to play for the local team, the Rimouski Oceanic. Sid had come to the quaint town of Rimouski not knowing what to expect. As I’m sure he assumed, not many of us spoke very good English. Though he could speak French decently well, I figured it would be relief to give him some comfort by speaking to him in his native tongue. So I approached him, and started conversation. You could say the rest was history.

We hit it off amazingly that night. Sidney and I ignored the party around us, and talked all night. It was like nothing else mattered. He wasn’t interested in all the girls who were trying to get his attention. After all, he was the new phenom in town.

I never quite got a long with someone like I did with Sidney. We never rushed things. Both of us decided it would be the right thing to get to know each other before we started anything serious. Still, there was no denying the mutual attraction. Eventually, it was too much for both of us to control. We started dating three months into the hockey season.

Sidney blew my mind. The stories he told were of nothing I could never imagine. I’d never been outside of Rimouski and the surrounding communities. Having never been out of Quebec, I wasn’t quite as worldly as he was. Still to this day, we never ran out of things to talk about. He always had a story to tell. There was always something exciting that I had been trying to remember all day to tell him. I think that’s what makes our relationship so great. We never get bored.

We were only sixteen when we met. Now we’re both in our twenties. The time we spent together flew before our eyes. It had gone too fast. In my mind, I still saw us as the seventeen year old kids who were desperately in love. But then again, nothing has even changed. We’re still as in love as ever.

I was always there for Sidney when things got tough. To him, I was the perfect person to fall back on. When he got hurt, and couldn’t play for a few weeks he was devastate. We both knew that it was a critical time in Sidney’s career. Scouts from across the NHL were waiting to watch him play. Those three weeks were hell. I had never seen him so upset, until he made it to the big leagues, that is, where the injuries got worse, and the time off the ice became longer and longer.

But I always loved that Sidney would confide in me. It made me feel special to know He knew that I was the one he went to when he needed guidance. He knew I would always take his pain and stress away. And he was right. I would do anything to make Sidney Crosby happy.

This is the story of the bumpy road of our relationship, and of Sid’s career. I’ll tell you every detail that I remember clearly in my mind; from the time we were sixteen to now… seven years. There was a lot of ups, and there were even more downs. But we made it through everything. Together. It was me and Sidney Crosby against the world.

I’ll tell you the story of how our relationship stood strong against so many odds, and how we stuck together despite everyone who was so against us, and our love. This is our story; me and my superstar.