This past Monday, I received a phone call from our community partner Joe Coughlan at 11:00pm. Usually Joe never calls this late, which made me think something was wrong. Instead, Joe called and invited me down to the pub at the bottom of my street to meet a past Galway Victory Scholar, Will Archambault, who was visiting for a few days. I’ll never turn down a free pint, so I walked down to meet up with them.
We spent about an hour or so chatting in the pub, and after hearing stories from both Joe and Will, it helped me take a step back and realize how great of an opportunity it is to be over here. The nostalgia was noticeable in the way Will spoke about his time here and the way Joe told stories about all of the past Galway Victory Scholars. After all, playing basketball in the National League and receiving my master’s is great, but getting the chance to improve the life of young people and build lifelong relationships with some truly special people over here is even better. In a few years when I look back on this experience, I won’t remember the wins and losses from basketball or the projects I completed in school. What I’ll remember are the experiences I had and the people I met, and that is not something to be taken for granted.
With the coming week being Thanksgiving, I plan to keep this realization in mind as I travel to Belfast for a few days with all of the Victory Scholars. This opportunity won’t last forever, and time is already flying by right in front of my eyes. I want to do all that I can to savor the experience, because it truly is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
