A few hours ago I got a text from my brother asking if I’d heard the news about Kobe Bryant. I said, “what news??” I was in church like a good little boy so I didn’t hear anything. For the record, my brother is a pastor so he was in church, too. He’s just more in tune with the sports scene… so that was when I first heard about his passing.
At this time of the day I was about to be driving around bringing Amazon smiles to my neighbors because I’m a good little delivery guy. The news still didn’t seem real. It’s not like I knew Kobe or any of us thought he would never die, but it’s the suddenness of it. Plus one of his kids died, too. So the news is heavy all over the country and especially the basketball community.
I start my delivering and I swear every channel on SiriusXM somehow orchestrated a master playlist to honor Kobe Bryant. I was flipping from coffee house to Elvis to 90s on 9 to a few others and every song I heard just made me wonder more about this tragic event. Here are a few that played with divine timing…
It was kind of crazy that every song playing while I was driving around town had an element of sadness, or celebration, and felt like it related to the passing of Kobe. Like each song was one piece of a stain-glass window… take a step back to see the beauty of the collection of songs forming a unintentional tribute to someone people loved.
Speaking of love… to be honest, I wasn’t a Kobe fan. I’m historically just stubborn like that. Especially when, and probably mostly because, he was SO good at what he did. Just like Michael Jordan. For the record, I didn’t even like Michael Jordan much till way after he retired. But for some reason this news is still shocking, sad, eye-opening, and it’s just too bad that his and his daughter’s life had to end this way. He’s a basketball legend and this final day of his life will be one that people ask, “Where were you when you found out Kobe passed away?”
I was listening to NBA radio on SiriusXM too, and a gentleman there said it best. Kobe was just starting his second act, tragic. But what’s even more devastating… his daughter didn’t even get her first.
Sad stuff. Hug those around you whether they’re people or pets or if no one’s around, hug yourself. You deserve it.
-Out of the Wilderness
Out of the Wilderness 