The day (Monday January 25th) started out with a 6:30 "New Slang" by the Shins alarm. It was moving day. As a minor league baseball player, you can fit all that you need in life into two suitcases. Some days you pack with the excitement of a promotion...or making the trip home. Others, you pack with the anxiety of having to say "goodbye" or "see you in a few months". Yesterday was one of the "others".
At 7am, it was time to head to the airport in Charlotte. Accompanying me was my girlfriend, Karena, and in the car behind us my mom, Susan. Both Karena and my mom have both done the "goodbye" day before, so it isn't quite as hard; but, there is a distinct sadness in the thought of both the distance that is about to separate us as well as the uncertainty as to when we'll see each other next. It was a somber car ride to Charlotte Douglas, needless to say.
By 7:45, it was time to say goodbye. It gets easier; but, it never gets easy. When you're hugging the ones you love at this moment, you try and soak up every second. You try and take one last mental image or think of one more reassuring thing to say and lighten the mood. However, the goodbye is inevitable, and there is a rent-a-cop telling you to move your vehicle.
Leaving that curb is, without a doubt, the worst part of the day.
Come 8:50am EST, it is take-off time. After dropping $60 for bags and grabbing a middle seat, its' time for the first flight of the day: 3 hours to Houston.
I got into Houston at 11am CST and didn't have time to get the BBQ I was looking forward to. There was only time to catch my connector.
11:35am CST: I flew out of Houston on a 3 hour flight to Phoenix.
At 2 pm MST, I landed in Phoenix. This is where the fun started. After grabbing my two, 50 pound bags from baggage claim, I had to grab a Super Shuttle and head to Peoria to find an apartment. Thats correct, I flew to Phoenix with no definite place of residence. Plan B was a night at the La Quinta in Peoria; but, after spending roughly 150 nights in 2009 there, I was going to do everything in my power to not let that happen.
After a 20 minute wait for the Super Shuttle, it was time to continue the journey. Four others and I hopped in the shuttle and made our way to Peoria. Now, normally, it is a 15-20 minute drive from Phoenix to Peoria; but, not when you are a minor league baseball player who needs to find an apartment before 5pm. An hour and a half later, I made it to Camden apartment complex.
Fortunately, the iPod shuffle was still kicking, and the attendant at the apartment complex informed me that they had an apartment that I could move into immediately.- I will add (so I don't come off as a completely unprepared slacker) that I had called ahead a few days earlier and been told that numerous units were available; so, it wasn't completely blind faith.
Once I was finished initialing and signing the next 2+ months of my life away to Camden, the snowball had gained speed and at 5pm, I had an apartment.
While signing the paperwork at Camden, I had called a buddy of mine, Mike Demark. At 5 PM MST, Demark scooped me from Camden and took me to pick up the car of the guy that is going to be staying with me through Spring Training. From this point on, a bunch of necessary errands were run. Here is the time line:
5:15- Pick up roommate (Evan Scribner's car)
5:25- Go to Evan's storage unit, smooth talk/beg the manager to let us in the gate.
5:30- Illegally give Scrib's password and go to storage unit
5:31- Grab bed frame, mattress and other miscellaneous items from Scrib's storage unit.
5:35- Drive to new apartment with mattress and bed frame on top of vehicle with only my left arm and Demark's right arm holding them down to the roof. (the car is a 2001 Maxima)
5:40- Move stuff into apartment.
6:00- Walmart trip
6:45- Trader Joe's trip
7:30-Unload stuff, put sheets on mattress, unpack clothes
8:30-Cook dinner/realize there is nowhere to sit and no TV to watch
9:00 (12am ET)- Done for the day.
At the end of the day, I felt pretty good about what I had accomplished; but, when thinking of the months that lie ahead, there was a lingering feeling of already missing my family and friends.
This profession I have chosen enables me to experience triumphant moments, meet extraordinary people, and play a game for a living that I have played since I was 5 years old.
However, it is also a profession that guarantees you nothing, promises you no clear path or stability, and takes you far away from those you love the most.
At the end of the day yesterday, I asked myself again, "Is it worth it?"
"Yes."
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