The helicopter crash that took the lives of nine people early January rocked the world. Of those nine were NBA star Kobe Bryant and his thirteen year old daughter, Gianna.
On February 23, a memorial was held for Kobe and his daughter where Kobe’s wife, Vanessa Bryant, took the stage to speak about her late husband and daughter, expressing her love and her grief for them both.
Throughout the span of the memorial, Vanessa made one thing very clear: true love lives on forever.
During the memorial, Vanessa took to looking back on a gift given to her by Kobe. The iconic blue dress in the 2004 movie The Notebook, was gifted to Vanessa by her late husband a few years ago.
In the movie, protagonist Allie Hamilton, portrayed by Rachel McAdams, sports the vintage powder blue dress at the time she returns to longtime lover Noah Calhoun who is played by Ryan Gosling. Naturally, Allie’s blue dress has become a sort of staple in the movie – the sort of piece that you just can’t not see without knowing where it’s from.
Without fail, the movie has easily become a romantic essential of sorts.
At the memorial, a grieving Vanessa looked back on the time Kobe gave to her that iconic blue dress from the movie.
At the memorial, Vanessa is quoted as saying: “When I asked him why he chose the blue dress, he said it was because it was the scene when Allie comes back to Noah. We had hoped to grow old together like the movie. We really had an amazing love story.”
Insistent on revealing Kobe’s extremely romantic personality, Vanessa went on to speak more during the memorial about all of Kobe’s romantic gestures over the years from anniversaries to Valentine’s Day. As a result, it can be inferred that Vanessa managed to without a doubt touch the hearts of everyone watching in person and from home.
While the couple hoped to grow old together like Allie and Noah in the movie (as stated by Vanessa), it is clear that their love will no doubt live on.
The love Kobe and Vanessa Bryant shared for one another is otherworldly, truly something straight out of a Nicholas Sparks movie or book.
While the grief of those lost as a result of the the helicopter crash will no doubt linger, by Vanessa Bryant sharing the love story she and Kobe shared, she took the first step in moving herself and all of us a little bit closer toward acceptance.
In remembering what he was like and the love he emitted, Vanessa Bryant urges us to keep Kobe in our memories.
