Martínez Bocanegra Emanuel, The Legacy Of A Legend

THE LEGACY OF A LEGEND

Inspired By The Greatest Kobe Bryant, Rest In Peace

Written by Emanuel Martínez Bocanegra

Iwas there in the LA arena, James was shining on the court.

Tiamara, my thirteen-year-old daughter was sitting beside me, she was really happy being there because she loved and appreciated this wonderful sport. During this match, I was amazed by how James beat my scoring points record which reminded me of my last Lakers game. I remembered how good I played during that match and also the effort that I made on the court. I remembered, that in that game I scored sixty points, which is one of the biggest personal annotations in NBA history. I made twenty-two shots of two points and twelve shots of three points. When the match was over I remember that everybody at the arena was shouting my name in the back, others were even crying because I, like an eagle, was leaving the nest. Which game me an indescribable feeling in my body, I was so grateful for the love and support, and although It was very hard to leave something that had become a huge part of my life, I knew, I needed to be strong for my fans and family, I had learned and become everything I needed, and it was time to go. I was leaving the Lakers.

When James’ match was over; I went to talk to him, and I told him that I was proud of him and that I wanted him to keep my legacy. While we were talking, we both said that we were going to collaborate with Nike, because we wanted to do a special collection, which needed to have our name or a logo to inspire young kids. I remember when Nike contacted me to ask. If I wanted to have a contract with them to make my own clothing brand. Well, I told them that I wanted to, this day was one of my happiest ones because I started to remember many things, for example, when I was younger, I used to watch every match of Michael Jordan and during every match, I saw his shoes all the time, and my mom bought them for me and every time I wore them I would always say; “I feel like Jordan today!” I told myself confidently.

JordanS were magic, it would give me all the confidence I NEEDED, I would feel like I got the world in my hands, Anything I would say; everybody would listen when I had them on. Also, I remembered that during my whole life I said that one day I would create my cloth brand as Jordan did. He was everything, an inspiration, a lighthouse in my journey, on a tiny boat in the choppy waters that were this life. He was my role model and always will be.

After the game, we made our way out of the arena heading back home and Tiamara told me “I am really hungry dad”, so I took her to Carpaneto, which is my favorite Italian restaurant in Los Angeles because it always reminded me about my childhood in Italy. When we were in the restaurant, I was telling my daughter that I was gonna love her forever and that I would always want the best for her. I said; “No matter the circumstances I am always going to protect you and take care of you and I will always fight to make sure that forever you’re gonna have everything.” She smiled, and said, “I know Dad”.

When we finished eating dinner, we made it back home, and there I saw my wife, Karina, who is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. Ever since I laid my eyes on her, with her short, slim figure and caramel-colored skin, her beautiful rosy complexion on her heart-shaped face, her almond-shaped eyes, deep and black that looked like they held an entire universe in them. Her hair was black and silky and fell over her shoulder. It was love at first sight, and every time I saw her, I felt exactly the same way, as I felt when I saw her for the first time.

“Hey honey, how was your day,” I asked her smilingly,

“Oh you know, love, it was long, but it’s better now that you’re home” She responded cheerfully.

We talked for a while and then I kissed her on the forehead

and hugged her tight and told her that I was going to get our children in bed. After I said good night to my two beautiful children and put them to bed, I watched them fall asleep and it brought tears to my eyes. I wished that this moment would last forever.

After they fell asleep completely I left and went back to talk about my day with my wife, and I said;

“I want to push my limits and make my daughter go further than she already was”

I thought that I could achieve more than I was expecting with her on my side. My wife agreed with me, and that we had advanced so much and had so much going for us, that we could move forward and make a better future not only for our family but for everyone else who is passionate about basketball. Everything was so perfect, our relationship with each other, The way that we could work together to make something better out of each one of us, as well as the people that we loved and surrounded us, everything was amazing. That night I went to sleep thinking about how much I loved my family and the people around me.

My biggest plan for the next day was to support my daughter even further into achieving her dreams and making her future brighter one like my own had been when I was her age. I slept peacefully, deeply, better than I had ever slept before, and it gave me the strength to wake up prepared and ready to make a new change that very day.

I woke that day, and despite having had gone to sleep so peacefully, I felt like something was off. I couldn’t quite place my finger on it. I woke up my daughter but not before kissing my wife on the forehead “Good morning, honey” she smiled and tapped my nose and said, “Good morning my love”, my daughter and I went to eat and we had a nutritious protein-filled breakfast of eggs,

broccoli, and mango shake to get the game mode on for the day. We left quickly to get to the launch pad early enough. My daughter was dressed in her favorite workout clothes, ready for her game of the day, and we met with her friend accompanied by her parents, one of which was the coach of my daughter’s team. We were all ready to get onto the helicopter. It was a new helicopter, it had my logo on it all over. It was strong, sleek. It reminded me of myself. I, in a way, was that helicopter. swift, powerful, full of life and ready to go for anything. I had bought it recently and met the pilot several times before buying it.

It usually 4 minutes from our house to the launchpad, and we would wait for the rest of the people to get there to start training. We all entered in the helicopter and made our way to the launchpad, the pilot told us to buckle our seatbelts and prepare for takeoff. The helicopter blades started rolling and soon the entire plane started buzzing, as it had so many times before. As soon as we got up into the air space, I had an uneasy feeling in my stomach, I don’t know why but I brushed it off quickly and turned a smile on my daughter lovingly. “Are you ready for today?” I asked tenderly.

“Sure am, daddy” I knew the answer, I knew this girl was constantly on her grind, and sometimes I looked up to her more than I looked up to anyone else. as we were in the air suddenly something felt wrong, we were descending very very slowly I noticed at first, And then the helicopter started whirling I Leaned towards the front and asked the pilot what was happening, he said that the helicopter had gone out of control and he was going to try to land on a nearby mountain. I instantly started to pray. I asked God to let us come out of this unharmed and hugged my daughter tightly, not letting her know what was happening.

It was only seconds later that the engine of the helicopter

exploded causing the aircraft to Shudder massively. Soon we were engulfed in flames. I couldn’t think about anything except for my daughter for the next five minutes surrounded by flames and the screams of the people around us including my daughter I did everything I could to shield her from the flames and held her close to my body and I pray to God for the last time, after that incident everything went dark.

We had hit the mountain. I opened my eyes to see Myself and the spirit of my daughter next to me, we were looking down at the helicopter that had crashed into the mountain it was engulfed in flames. There are people around screaming filming shouting our names. It felt calm almost too calm to be watching our own deaths, I looked down at my daughter to see if she was OK. Then suddenly; I felt us getting lifted into the clouds and heard my daughter say tenderly, “Let’s go play somewhere else, dad”. I held her hand, and that we did.