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  2020-03-12

  Keeping the Family Close

  When the world went on the first lockdown on March 12, 2020, it caught everybody by surprise. I woke up that day in New York City and went to practice to prepare for our basketball game later that night. We found out around noon that the whole tournament, along with pretty much every sporting event in the world, was cancelled. We flew back to Pittsburgh a few hours later and from there I drove home to Northwest Ohio, which is the last place I expected to be at that time. It was such a surreal feeling to watch the whole world shut down and know that life as we knew it wouldn’t be the same for a long time. I was really looking forward to the spring semester and spending a lot of time with 3 of my best friends whose last semester it would be at Duquesne. I came to the sad realization that I wouldn’t get to have that time with them and I’ve only gotten to see them once since everything went down. With everybody being on edge because the virus was such a new thing and we didn’t know much about it, I also didn’t get to see my hometown friends for a while. It was just my parents, brother and I at home. It seemed uneventful and monotonous at times but looking back on it, I really enjoyed that time I had with my family because I am at school during the summer semester and usually don’t get to come home much during the school year. The picture attached is from one of the best memories of the quarantine when my dad, brother, and I went on a trip to our family cabin in Michigan. We haven’t had time like that to ourselves since I left for college and it really brought us closer together. I also got to spend a lot of time alone, which is something I don’t usually do and had to learn how to do. This is another reason I am thankful for the lockdown because I learned a lot not only about other people, but about myself as well. I revisited some old passions of mine, like making art and music. It was nice to be able to really relax and come back to the things that I was into as a little kid. This alone time allowed me to do a lot of self-reflection as well and helped me realize what I am doing right and wrong in all aspects of my life. I had always thought about playing professional basketball, but over this time I realized that it is a goal that I want to put all my effort into achieving. I had to reassess my habits, which pushed me to work really hard to get into the best shape of my life over the quarantine. I knew I needed to take advantage of the time because I was just coming off of a serious knee injury that I wasn’t fully recovered from. I ended up accomplishing a lot of the goals I had set over the lockdown and I stayed disciplined with my diet and workouts and this helped me learn a lot about myself. Some of the things that still stick with me might sound cliche, but they are true: be thankful for every day, be better than you were the day before, and stay patient through frustrating times. Overall, I am thankful for the time I was able to spend both alone and with family through this pandemic and those memories and lessons will stick with me forever.