Taking on New Adventures

Chuck and I had a horrible Sunday morning. The alarm in our building started going off at 3:15 am and continued every 20 minutes or so until almost 8:00 am. We had no idea what was going on but also knew that we didn’t want to walk down 19 flights of stairs for a false alarm. And let’s be honest, living above a hotel just steps from the French Quarter often leads to false alarms.

We have had to evacuate once before, when an apartment kitchen caught fire. But we heard the sirens not long after the alarm in the building went off so knew it was serious. However, this past Sunday, there were no sirens and every time the alarm went off, we got up to check the windows and the hallways to see if we could tell what was going on.

It’s probably not the safest thing to do, honestly. On the bright side, if we evacuated every time the alarm went off, we’d have the best legs ever from walking down 19 flights of stairs.

So that brings us back to Sunday. We were both fried. So we threw on some clothes and headed out to run a few errands and grab some lunch. It was pouring rain and there really wasn’t much that sounded great, so we stopped at one of our favorite places to eat and grab a beer then settled up to the bar to order.

Not long after we got there, my 11-year-old nephew texted me asking if I’d heard about Kobe. Since his neighbor had a dog by that name, I thought he meant the dog. But before I could reply, his next text was “Kobe Bryant”. I had no idea what he was talking about but figured I’d look on Twitter to see if something was going on.

That’s when I saw it. The TMZ report saying he died in a helicopter crash less than an hour before. Then, Twitter exploded. Everyone was speculating over what happened, the few news outlets that reported it citing TMZ were speculating who was on board and it was just a hot mess of rumors. But one thing was clear, the NBA legend was on that helicopter and did not survive the crash.

As we went through the rest of the day and made our way to the Pelicans game, we were definitely confused by our emotions. I had met Kobe a few times during my CNN life but can’t say I “know” him. Chuck was a fan but not a big one. However, we were both really broken up by this.

At the game, it was somber. You can read more about it in my blog for Pelican Debrief, but to say people were definitely feeling this one is an understatement. Couple that with the text I got from my sister saying my nephews were sad and the 11-year-old took to drawing something honoring Kobe.

When we got home, Chuck and I talked about his death and how the Pelicans players handled themselves on the court. We also watched ESPN and stayed up entirely too late, especially given our early morning. But we felt like we needed to get as much information as we could.

Every time a celebrity of some sort passes away, regardless of the situation, I always feel bad because their entire lives, both good and bad, are thrown out for public consumption and often without any context. But somehow, with Kobe, I felt like there were people who weren’t sugar-coating things. They obviously spoke of mostly good. But they also were honest. And I think that, in some ways, makes it even harder to process. We finally saw the human side of Kobe through the stories of his life from those who knew him best.

This is one of those celebrity deaths that didn’t move on 24 hours later. And it’s interesting how the media has felt compelled to try and give substantial coverage to the others who died alongside Kobe. It’s not normal for that to happen, but I am glad that people see that it’s not just 1 or 2 people who perished in that helicopter.