LONDON -- It was exhausting. Mentally, physically, even spiritually. And as such, the eight-day pilgrimage my son Marko and I just completed to my ancestral home in Serbia — with a day here in England in either direction — felt like anything but a vacation.
Heck, I’ll probably be that much more out of breath by the time I get to the press box to cover tonight’s Steelers preseason game.
At the same time, my goodness, was this ever needed. For both of us.
For Marko, it was a first real chance to connect, face to face, ear to ear, with his family’s origins and, best of all, with so much of the family itself. He’s 18, so this was overdue, but it’s no less vital that it happened. It’s easy to tell he’s so glad and grateful that it did. By trip’s end, he’d absorbed so much — especially from the many museums and historical sites we toured — not least of which was the entirety of the Cyrillic alphabet.
For me … man, I don’t even know where to start. But I’ll try.
I love what I do.
I love the job, love the company, love what all of us here have built together, obviously including everyone reading this. It’s been a labor of love, in every sense of the term, and it’ll remain that for the rest of my life. I’m sure of that.
But too much is too much. And seeing Serbia for the first time in 26 years, seeing my cousins and other relatives — the only ones I’ve got in this world apart from immediate family — and especially meeting their children … that hit very, very hard. And not always in the best way.
I’m going to find a way to be a better cousin, uncle, friend, whatever the case might be, to my family on this side of the water. I really am. And within that, I’m going to find a way to connect all of our family on the home side of the water to the family over here. That means connecting them to my family in Serbia, and to my wife Dali’s family in neighboring western Romania, who also are of Serb descent.
Maybe we’ll go see them. Maybe we’ll arrange for them to come see us. But if this little trip proved anything to all of us — and this was the primary purpose — it’s that it’s not as impossible as it once was.
A logistical recap: Marko and I flew nonstop from Pittsburgh to London on British Airways, then nonstop from London to Belgrade on Air Serbia. We stayed in Marriott properties in both cities, same as I and our staff do in the U.S. and Canada. We took Ubers in London, rented from Hertz in Belgrade, even got an automatic-shift car so I could drive there for the first time. None of it was even difficult, much less impossible.
And all the work I missed was one week in which the Pirates were on the West Coast and the Steelers were practicing leading up to an exhibition. Three columns and a handful of podcasts were missed. That’s it. Taylor Haase took care of the site, the staff did its usual diligent reporting, and I logged off entirely for the first time since we launched in 2014.
No one perished. I’m not anywhere near that important. That was among the best feelings experienced on the entire trip.
I’ve got to find a way to do more. So does Dali. She’s next. As one of my cousins in Serbia said when we left, “Next time, I expect to see all of you.” When I replied how tough it’d be for all of us to leave at the same time, all I got was a shrug and, “Your staff can take care of it.”
Yeah, they can. And yeah, we’ll do that.
One last thing here before I share some visuals: Thanks to you. And I mean that. In the time I was gone, there wasn’t a single complaint sent this way that wasn’t sent in jest. That means so much, more than you might think. I hate disappointing the people who support this place. It kills me when it happens, and it does. So to have everyone yelling at me to not write, not comment, not anything … that was huge.
There’s a balance that can be attained.
I’m confident I’ve begun to find it.
But hey, rather than ramble on further about that or the trip itself, I collaborated with Marko to reduce all of our photos to the following 10 to try to tell the story, most of which, truth be told, was about him:
DEJAN KOVACEVIC / DKPS
Marko sketches from behind my cousin Zvezdana's house in the village of Futog, Serbia.
DEJAN KOVACEVIC / DKPS
Marko sketches across from the church in our family's ancestral home, the village of Parage, Serbia.
There was time for family ...
KIND SERBIAN STRANGER
My cousin Kika met us at Belgrade's iconic Konj statue when we first arrived.
DEJAN KOVACEVIC / DKPS
My cousins Zvezdana and Zorana in the village of Futog, Serbia.
MARKO KOVACEVIC / DKPS
The world-famous walking/dining district of Skadarlija in Belgrade.
DEJAN KOVACEVIC / DKPS
A meat-platter sampler at one of the Skadarlija restaurants, devoured like true carnivores within minutes.
DEJAN KOVACEVIC / DKPS
A more traditional dish at one of several Starbucks in Belgrade, where nobody had to ask how to spell our names.
We ventured into tons of history, too, both in Serbia and England, highlighted by an intimate touring of Belgrade's Kalemegdan fortress, which first went up in 279 B.C.:
DEJAN KOVACEVIC / DKPS
Belgrade's historic Kalemegdan fortress, high above the Danube River.
DEJAN KOVACEVIC / DKPS
The Regent Street shopping district, London, complete with double-decker buses, red phone booths, etc.
MARKO KOVACEVIC / DKPS
At the base of the Tower Bridge, London.
Any questions at all, I'll be in comments, as ever. And I'll be back Downtown today at the HQ/shop, as well, before heading over to do the football game.
