By Jarrod Jones

I’m sure that anyone who has a family member playing sports overseas, serving our country abroad, or even studying in a foreign exchange program is familiar with the struggles of long distance relationships. Going into my 9th professional basketball season in Europe those struggles were magnified by 1,000. Considering my wife was pregnant, complete pandemonium surrounding the whole COVID-19 situation, and not knowing if travel restrictions would even allow me to see my family at all over the course of the next 8 months.  With all of this lingering over us, I still had to understand how important it is for me to go and make a living as the breadwinner of our family during a pandemic.

Our transition period with our new bundle of joy has been quite unconventional. Being one of the most hectic weeks of my life, it felt as if I was on an emotional roller coaster. 

Leading up to the delivery date I was full of anxiety due to an abundance of conflicting thoughts rattling around in my brain. I was in the midst of contract negotiations waiting for several deals to go through while at the same time hoping they would be delayed so that I could stick around long enough to see my newborn daughter before having to report back to work.

I ended up signing a contract the day before our delivery date, and all we could do was pray that our baby girl would cooperate and come out according to plan. Well, we prayed and God answered! Demi Dior Jones was born at 12:02 a.m., and I had to be en route to the airport by 3:00 p.m. to catch my flight to Europe to tackle an eight-month assignment.

Although it has been extremely tough being away I think as a family we are learning how strong we really are and that we can make it through any situation as long as we are all committed to the same mission. My wife Dana has really held down the fort back home and our FaceTime sessions have never been more valuable than now. I am looking forward to our family reuniting. Throughout all the uncertainty during this pandemic, there are a few things that could silence the noise and clear all the chaos. Those things consist of being able to hold my newborn Demi, hug and kiss my daughter Dallas, and last but not least feel the essence of my loving Wife.