Worth a Jillian.

You know, life is full of surprises, yes, it is full of surprises of all kinds. Some good, some bad, some funny, hilarious, etc. but whatever you want to call them, they're out there, and like a lot of things, they come up by way of people, places, things, etc. that you just wouldn't as well as when you least expect them to happen.

This time, for me, it was just me, being my usual self, going to Arizona State University on the evening of January 11, 2013 to photograph another sports event. This one was the women's basketball team, taking on their University of Oregon Ducks as an opponent in the still fairly new PAC-12 conference.

As is always the case, I got to the ASU media room and did as I always do, setting up my cameras and other accessories, (laptop PC included)  checking everything over just to make sure everything was ready to go for the game.

My normal routine includes checking printed rosters on both teams. Low and behold, the Oregon roster had "Jillian Alleyne" on their roster. How surprising. This surname of mine is not that common so it's not like I meet another person who shares it with me every day.

Jillian, oddly enough is from the Los Angeles area just like I am. She's a freshman and just getting her playing career started at the collegiate level so the first of many thoughts included being pleased that I will have quite a bit of time to watch her and record images of her. I want to appreciate that opportunity while I can as I know 2016 will be here before I know it.

When I came out to the game floor I set myself up for a basketball game the same way I always do, to take the first half of my game images underneath the basket that will be defended by the home team (it's always the west side basket at Wells Fargo Arena) and get a chance to say hello to Jillian during their shoot-around warm up time.

Oh yes, Jillian was just as amazed as I was after I showed her my press ID and she saw her last name printed on it, obviously feeling, as I do that someone with this surname of ours does not show up front and center every day.

Of course, questions rose like the sun in the east about us possibly being relatives. Distantly perhaps? Who knows. Jillian's roots are also in the West Indies. She said Trinidad and Tobago for hers and other places in the region. Mine are in Barbados and A few other places like Dominica, Panama, Trinidad/Tobago, and some from British Belize and South America as well.

The way I see things, only God knows and it's all in His hands at a status of "TBD" like a lot of things in the wide world of sports at many levels. Jillian, it was great to meet you. The best of luck to all collegiater athletes in your position and that certainly at the utmost importance at the highest level goes for "family" as well.