weekend report 009: the art of being present
a reflection on KAT, the knicks and NYC recs
Hi friend,
We’re officially one game into the NBA Finals with New York taking an early lead. The NBA playoffs have been such a fun journey into learning a new sport for me. The pressure, the high stakes, the comebacks, all of it proves that a series isn’t over until it’s actually over.
But at the same time, while we’re all feeling the game day emotions as fans and waiting to see who becomes champion, I recently realized how important it is to enjoy the moments we’re in because they don’t last forever.
A sweet reminder that Karl-Anthony Towns gave us all after Game 1.
KAT’s path to the NBA Finals feels deeper than basketball.
For years, he’s been a really talented player, but his journey has also been marked by immense personal loss. In 2020, he not only lost his mother, Jacqueline Cruz-Towns, to COVID-19, but also lost seven additional family members during the pandemic.
KAT has never shied away from talking about how much his mom meant to him and the impact her loss has had on his life, both on and off the court. At the same time, he has been open about the survivor’s guilt and grief he has carried while navigating so much loss in such a short period of time.
What stood out to me after Game 1 wasn’t the stats or even the win itself.
It was hearing KAT talk about feeling like a little kid again and feeling like his mom was in the arena with him.
That touched my heart.
Here he is, playing on one of the biggest stages in basketball, living out a dream that he’s worked toward his entire life. Yet the emotion that seemed to stand out most wasn’t pressure, expectation, or even the desire to win.
It was joy and gratitude.
And I think experiencing loss, especially on that scale, changes the way you see life.
When you’ve had people, moments, or chapters taken from you far sooner than expected, you become more aware that nothing is guaranteed. You learn that even the most beautiful moments are temporary, which somehow makes them even more meaningful.
That’s part of why KAT’s comments resonated with me so much. It felt like he understood something many of us spend years learning: that some moments aren’t meant to be rushed through on the way to the next goal. They’re meant to be experienced, appreciated, and remembered while we’re living them.
It was the kind of childlike excitement that reminds us why we fall in love with something in the first place.
From what we’ve seen during the Knicks playoff run, this team is full of fighters. There’s obviously a strong professional desire to win a championship. But I think it’s beautiful that KAT didn’t allow the pursuit of the outcome to overshadow the experience of the moment itself.
He allowed himself to feel it, appreciate the moment and remember who helped him get there.
Sometimes we’re so focused on reaching the destination that we forget to enjoy the fact that we’re already living through a moment we once prayed for, worked for, or dreamed about.
KAT reminded me that it’s okay to pause and take it all in.
There are some moments we all wish we could stay in forever.
Family traditions. Sunday afternoons watching football. The routines we loved. The first time you meet your favorite athlete. Championship runs.
Those chapters always seem to go by so quickly.
But sometimes the moments we wish could last forever take on a different meaning over time. We may not get to stay in them, but we learn to carry them with us in different ways.
And as much as I’d love to live in some of those moments forever, that’s not reality.
Because life has a way of reminding us that nothing is guaranteed.
The people we love, the seasons we enjoy, and the moments we wish could last forever are all temporary. And while that can be difficult to accept, it also gives those moments their meaning.
It reminds us to be present and to appreciate what we have while we have it.
Maybe that's why, as sports fans, these moments mean so much to us.
The New York Knicks haven’t won an NBA championship since 1973. That’s 53 years of waiting, hoping, rebuilding, disappointment, and believing that maybe next year would be different. Some Knicks fans weren’t even born the last time the team won a championship.
Imagine how much sweeter this Finals run feels because of everything that came before it.
If the Knicks won every year, it would be amazing, but it wouldn’t mean the same thing.
The waiting is part of what makes this moment special.
But not every hardship exists to teach us a lesson, and not every loss feels meaningful when we’re living through it.
Some experiences simply remind us how precious life is.
Sometimes grief doesn’t make us stronger. It simply makes us more aware of what matters.
When you’ve experienced loss, you learn that moments aren’t valuable because they last forever. They’re valuable because they don’t.
While sports and life exist on very different scales, I think that’s part of why we become so attached to certain teams, seasons, and memories.
As an NFL girl at heart, I think about the 2024 Philadelphia Eagles all the time.
Part of me still isn’t over that team.
Every offseason reminds me that sports never stand still. By this year, probably half of the 2024 roster are already gone. Players get traded. Some retire. Others leave for new opportunities or bigger contracts elsewhere.
And while I understand that’s part of the business, it doesn’t always make it easier.
Because eventually you realize you weren’t just attached to the players.
You were attached to what that team represented.
The excitement of that season. The memories attached to it. The people you watched games with. The version of yourself that got to experience it.
Every season gives us a choice. We can spend all our time wishing things stayed the same, or we can learn to appreciate a season for what it was and embrace whatever comes next.
Neither sports nor life allow us to stay in our favorite chapter forever.
The seasons we wish would end teach us resilience. The seasons we wish would stay forever teach us gratitude. And both are necessary.
So while we’re all focused and excited about who will lift the trophy at the end of this series (go new york <3), I’m trying to remind myself not to rush to the ending.
One day these games will be highlights.
This Finals run will be a memory.
And the version of life you’re in will eventually become part of the story too.
So for now, I’m choosing to recognize that the beauty of the game is that we get to experience it while it’s happening.
Because maybe the goal isn’t to stay in our favorite chapters forever, but to let them shape us enough that we carry a piece of them into every chapter that comes next.
wellness tip
Take yourself on a nostalgic date - go back to a place you loved as a kid. maybe it's the ice cream shop you always visited, the bookstore where you spent entire afternoons, the neighborhood park you would sit on the swings at, or the pizza place your family used to visit after church.
if you do go, i'd love to hear where your date takes you <3 bonus points if you recruit the people you used to go with to join you.
out my cart
Cymbiotika Vitamin D3 + K2 + CoQ10 - i'm officially in my immunity-building era. adding this to my routine as a reminder that wellness is easier to maintain than it is to rebuild.
EADEM Le Chouchou Lip Balm - my favorite lip balm at the moment. non-sticky, super hydrating, and always in my bag.
memory bank
1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge - my home for a brooklyn staycation. waking up to views of the bridge never gets old and it’s another reminder that sometimes you don’t need to leave your city to feel somewhere new.
DUMBO Viewpoint (39-21 Washington St, Brooklyn, NY 11201)- somehow, in my entire lifetime of living in new york, this was my first time seeing the famous manhattan bridge view in person. proof that there are still corners of your own city to see.
% Arabica - ordered an iced honey latte with oat milk before wandering around the waterfront. it was such a beautiful day for a walk by the bridge.
7th Street Burger - a simple, (kinda greasy) burger and fries after walking around all afternoon. sometimes the best memory deposits aren’t fancy or the healthiest. they’re just exactly what you were craving in the moment.
Red Coffee Stand - such a small, cute coffee stand. i ordered a warm matcha latte with oat milk and loved seeing the regulars’ loyalty cards taped all over the stand. part reminder to never forget your card, part neighborhood charm. it felt very brooklyn.
Beautiful