Ours Forever....

Thought #7
Sid,
You and Pat are in the back yard doing…something in the swimming pool. I’m never quite sure what it is that you to do when you’re alone together. It’s always cute to watch and good for a laugh.

Like now, I’m sitting on the deck high above your heads. I’m watching while I write this. The deck has the perfect view of our back yard and its swimming pool. I remember seeing this house for the first time…

It was the end of July and instead of taking off to the house in Nova Scotia like we usually would, we stayed in Pittsburgh for a number of reasons. I really wasn’t in the mood to do a lot of travelling while pregnant and you didn’t mind staying in the city you had come to love. The baby shower was right around the corner and we had decided upon Pittsburgh since it was our primary residence. And… you had decided we need a new house.

“We need space to grow,” you had said.

I wasn’t quite sure what you had meant by that. So I sat, in the passenger seat of your Range Rover, contemplating it while we drove to meet the real estate agent.

Space to grow could mean as a family. But I didn’t understand how fast you thought we would be growing a family. We were professional athletes, occupations that kept us apart and busy far too often.

It could also mean space for our first child to grow. If this was the case, I could agree. I loved the current place in Sewickley. It had been home April of 2009 when I had first moved in with you and while it had just enough room for the two of us comfortably, you condo wouldn’t do for a family with a young child. It was more of a, forgive the term, hipster-y neighborhood. And while you are far from a hipster, you loved the nightlife that was near-by.

Our house now was the last one we saw that day. I had liked all the other houses, but none of them were places we could see ourselves for another 10-plus years. But this one, we could.

“I love it,” I smiled as we stood in the very spot I am now.

“Me too,” you nodded. “But we’ll have to act fast. There are already a few offers in place.”

“With our luck, we won’t get it,” I sighed.

“Don’t act like that,” you chastised me. “Besides, you’re my good luck charm. We’ll get it.”

And I guess I was.

Two weeks later, at our baby shower, you gave me a little surprise.

In attendance were my mom, Janine, your mom, Taylor, Vero, Heather, several other WAGs, my grandmothers, my aunts, your grandmother, your aunts, and a bunch of girls from swimming. It was an all-female affair. Or, that is, until you and the boys decided to crash it.

Imagine our surprise when in burst Evgeni Malkin talking in Russian on the phone. He was followed by Max, Jordan, Kris, and Tyler. You brought up the rear.

“What are you doing?” I asked as you kissed my cheek.

“Surprising you,” you shrugged as you rummaged through a folder you had brought in.

“Yeah, I can see that. Oh my God. Is Kris hitting on Janine?” I watched the hockey player out of the corner of my eye. Yeah, he was definitely flirting.

“Probably,” you said. “Babe. Would you look down already?”

I hadn’t realized it, but you had placed a sheet of paper on the table in front of me.

“Oh my God,” I muttered as I picked up the paper to inspect. It was a print-out of an email between our real estate agent and the owners of the house. “They want to sell it? To us? Are you fucking kidding me, Golden Boy?”

You chuckled. “Nope. We can sign on it tomorrow, they’ve agreed to our terms.”

I almost squealed in excitement. “I love you, Sid. We both do.”

You kissed me lightly on the lips with one hand on my stomach and another on my cheek. “I love you both, too. A lot.”

Love You Always,
Rory