Basketball diaries, part 4: How basketball got my parents back together

Basketball has been something very strong in my life that has had a big affect on me and my life. Of course it is my love of basketball that also had an affect on the love of two of the most important people in my life – my mom and dad. That’s because I believe that my love for basketball (in an indirect way) is the reason that my parents, who had divorced early in 1978 (the year of UK’s fifth national title), got back together and eventually remarried. But a kitchen floor helped too.
It was a Friday night in 1983 (I was in the third grade) when my mom went to take a bath, to wash away the stresses of the week, and I decided that that was an opportune time to practice my dribbling in the kitchen. So I hit the kitchen in my usual indoor basketball uniform – shorts, a T-shirt and tube socks. However, that’s the last thing I remember.
The next thing I know is my mom is slapping my face, frantically crying, as I lay on the couch.
“Josh, are you okay?!” she screamed.
“Yes, I’m fine,” I replied, not too sure why she was slapping me.
Then she told me that she came in the kitchen and found me unconscious on the floor, evidently I had slipped and fallen and knocked myself out cold. I was still breathing, so she didn't call an ambulance, but she did call my dad. My mom was still frenzied when my dad arrived a few minutes later. I still wasn’t sure what all the excitement was about, I mean I had a little headache, but that was it. They took me to the emergency room and I got X-rayed for the first time in my life. I tried to talk them out of taking me to the ER, but they did anyway. The doctors couldn't find anything wrong with me on the X-ray, so they released me that night. I think they both tucked me into bed that night, something that hadn’t happened since I was very little. I’m not sure if my dad stayed over that night, but he soon began coming around more and more and he started staying overnight and on the weekends and soon he and mom were back together. And a short time after that they got remarried. And to me, basketball will always deserve an assist for that.