February 20, 2012

I have been wanting to write for a long while about this subject but haven't found the time since school and work overpower my life. A few months ago, I went to my first Boston Celtics game. Hacky and I had lower level seats and of course I tried to get close to the action. I have to say two things: 

1) Maverick fans are so sweet. I was wearing a PP jersey and no one made me feel uncomfortable about it at all but instead they asked, "Why are you a Celtics fan?" or "Are you from Boston?" I feel every time I get asked this I have to defend my dissertation that I have been working on for the past 20 years of my life. 

Once upon a time, I watched basketball non stop as a little kiddo to my awkward teens and it was something that meant so much to me. It was basically an escape from the troubles of my home life and heroes that could never wrong me. I started out a Jordan fan and who wasn't one? He was amazing, clutch and likable all at the same time. He did "Space Jam" for goodness sakes. I remember watching a play off series between his Bulls and the Indiana Pacers. Reggie Miller was such a villain. I must say I ate it up. I loved how he played the game and from then on I was hooked. Reggie Miller's bad ass/flopping antics made me love the game of basketball. I was so hardcore about them and hated anyone that was in their path. I remember in the 2000 playoffs they played against the Bucks and Ray Allen pushed the Pacers to a deciding game five. At the time, I called Ray every curse word in the book but admired/respected how well he played. From that point on, I was a fan and watched "He Got Game" about 100 times. Also thank you Travis Best for hitting that game winning three to advance us to the second round. As for Paul Pierce, I've always been a fan from the first highlight reel. I had a thing rooting for the underdog and he was mine. I just saw how much effort he would put into every game but it wasn't enough to push the Celtics to greatness. My heart always had a little spot for him ever since he was stabbed and didn't miss a game after that event. The TRUTH. Life/not having cable got in the way of basketball and I had to stop for a little bit. I got back into it when I learned that my childhood heroes were all on one team together (Allen & Pierce) and from that point on it's been Celtic love all the way for me. I don't like to leave Kevin Garnett out of the equation but must say I hated him with a passion when he was with the Wolves. I do appreciate that he's a big and still plays at the top level. You see bigs like J-O & Shaq waste away throughout the years, but I believe that KG still brings it. He may not be as good/intense as he was many years ago but compared to others that have reached the point he is at now I still think he's hanging in there quite well. So from that, I have respect for him but he's not my favorite. I could honestly go on and on about my basketball influences but I'll stop right here :)

2) Another thing about the game was it was the first time I have been overwhelmed with happiness. I decided to move a little closer when they were having shoot arounds during halftime. Ray came out first then everyone else… Seeing Ray & Paul conversing on the sidelines made me cry. Yes I was THAT girl. That night reinforced why I am working so hard in school. This is my dream. Being that close to the action and seeing my heroes in the flesh was indescribable. I couldn't mustard up the words when I sat down and Hacky asked me what was wrong. They were happy tears from having experienced something so amazing and dear to my heart. I probably won't ever see these guys play on the sidelines whenever I graduate and get a desirable job. But this is what I want to do and there's no turning back.  Whenever I have doubts all I have to do is look up the legends that I admired growing up and keep going. Just keep going and I know that one day I'll hopefully get there. 

Older.

Today I realized that I am an adult. It came to me in my psychology class. We were discussing the lifespan for a woman: infancy, childhood, adolescence, emerging adulthood… those years in between our teenage phase and adulthood. The number of this trend is growing as our generation is waiting on getting married/settling down. These are the years you discover yourself and formulate what you want out of this lifetime. I realized today that I'm not at this point in my life anymore. For me, adulthood has always been a scary looming thought. I always thought of it as "real life" and cutting ties with the help you needed in the years previous. But I honestly think that the hardships that we face as "adults" are also present during the "emerging period". The problems that we encounter are what make us into who we are. I often contemplate "I wish I would have done this" or "done this earlier" and I essentially regret a chunk of my past since now that I'm way older than the average college student. But when reflecting back today, I had another view on life's hiccups: If all of the events in my life did not happen the way they sequentially occurred, then I would not be at this point in my life right now. I am the healthiest I have ever been. I have formed relationships with people that are dear to my heart. I am following the dreams I have had since I was 8 years old. I am proud of the person that I have worked so hard to be. These past couple of years, I fought to find my identity without compromising it for anyone.

I have been dreading getting older once someone told me that I was entering my late 20s a year ago. But I feel that life has gotten exponentially better every year and that we all improve with time to learn and grow as people. I'm still trying to figure things out and I don't think this will ever change. It makes life more interesting when you strive for a little more out of life.