Kobe Bryant‘s love for his wifeVanessawill be one of his most everlasting legacies.
The 41-year-old athlete — who, along with his daughter Gianna and seven other people, died on Sunday in a helicopter crash — penned an emotional note to Vanessa two months ago to mark the anniversary of the first day they met.
Sharing a throwback photo of the two of them together on Instagram, Bryant wrote in a postshared on InstagramNov. 27, “On this day 20 years ago I met my best friend, my Queen @vanessabryant.”
The basketball star also posted a picture of the two at present day, which showed the parents of four posing in front of the Sleeping Beauty Castle at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California.
Kobe Bryant/Instagram
He shared in the caption, “I decided to take her on a date to Disneyland tonight to celebrate old school style (pre 4princesses)”
“I love you my mamacita per sempre,” he added. (Per sempremeans “forever” in Italian.)
Bryant married Vanessa in 2001. The couple went on to have four children together: daughters Natalia, 17, Gianna, 13, Bianka, 3, and Capri, 7 months.
A source in Newport Beach, where Bryant is based out of, recently told PEOPLE that the family “not your typical Newport Beach family.”
Bryant and his daughter Gianna were on their way to ayouth basketball gamein Thousand Oaks with parents and players from the team when theirhelicoptercrashed amid foggy conditions in Calabasas, California and burst into flames.
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Bryant previously shared that he began using helicopters while he still played for the Los Angeles Lakers as a way tospend more time with his family— and less time stuck in traffic.
Sarah Chester and her daughter, eighth-grader Payton, the head basketball coach at Orange Coast College John Altobelli, his wife Keri and daughter Alyssa, girls basketball coach Christina Mauser andpilot Ara Zobayanwere also on the aircraft during the incident. There were no survivors.
Another sourcetold PEOPLEthat Bryant and his wife made a point not to fly together.
“He and Vanessa had a deal that they would never fly on a helicopter together,” the source said.
Matt Baron/REX/Shutterstock
“I was sitting in traffic and I wound up missing like a school play,” he toldAlex Rodriguezin 2018. “I had to figure out a way where I could still train and focus on the craft but still not compromise family time.”
“So that’s when I looked into helicopters, to be able to get down and back in 15 minutes and that’s when it started,” he said.
source: people.com
