This Friday night I'm going to get to go to my first NBA basketball game courtesy of Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Southeastern Pennsylvania. They've hooked us up with three free tickets so that April and I can take our little brother Isaiah down to the Wachovia Center to see the Sixers play the Celtics. I'm not a huge NBA follower (outside of my fantasy basketball team - which will make me watch for every stat accumulated by Andre Iguodala at the game), but I do understand that neither of these two teams has much at stake at this point in the season. Still, thanks to BBBS, I'm excited to go experience something I probably wouldn't see otherwise, while hanging out with somebody I probably wouldn't know otherwise.
To me, that's been the greatest part of being involved with the BBBS program. Although April and I could have probably found a way to become involved in the lives of some Philadelphians, Big Brothers provided us with an easy and very accessible way to show love to a kid and a family. I'm the kind of person who sometimes needs that kind of socially acceptable device to overcome the awkwardness and uncomfortability I feel when trying to establish something new and somewhat radical for me (especially a relationship). I'm thankful for the vision of people who saw the value in building bridges for timid people like me to befriend those outside of their everyday lives. There's a part of this city I would never even begin to understand if it weren't for Isaiah and his family, and I know that it has enriched my time here already.
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