Year TWO - this was a crazy and tough year for us
When we moved back from Iowa in September, we got a little apartment in Scottsdale. We were able to get most all of our stuff out of storage and sleep on an actual bed again!
We spent our first anniversary in Dana Point, CA. Matt and I were there for a couple nights and then my parents and brother came and joined us. We went to Disneyland and hung out on the beach. Matt actually had knee surgery while we were there too. He had to have it done by the Angels doctor who was in Cali so weirdly enough the timing was great to do it at the end of our vacation. (He had torn his Meniscus)
I got a job at the Arizona Biltmore in the Catering department (event planning). Unfortunately I was not able to put my teaching certificate to use because I knew we would be moving with baseball in the spring. But I loved this job so it was great. And I figured there are hotels all over the country so I would be able to get a similar job wherever we went.
Matt continued to train, rehab his knee, do hitting lessons and coach.
We had a fun but pretty uneventful fall and winter.
In March Matt went to spring training in Florida. I stayed in AZ to work and pack up our stuff and put most of it in storage again. Our lease was up in our apartment so I moved in with my brother for a few weeks.
After spring training was over, Matt was sent back to Iowa. It was great because it was a familiar place for us!
I, once again, packed what we needed for the summer in our 4 Runner and my mom and I drove halfway across the country.
We had a cute little apartment that we shared with another of Matt's teammates. The guys also bought a junker car to share. Our thought process on that was that if one of the guys gets sent to a new team sometime during the season (which they were hoping for since this was the second year in Iowa for both of them), the guy left could still live out the lease and use the car. Well, that did not exactly work like we had hoped!
In June, Matt had to go on a 10 day roadtrip so I decided to visit one of my best friends in Tennessee. I left on the third day of the roadtrip and when I got off the plane in TN Matt called and said that he got moved up to the team in California! It was great news, EXCEPT that he had to leave the next day and could not go back to Iowa to get any of his stuff. AND, our roomate also got moved to a new team. Enter panic!!! That meant that once I got home from TN I had to pack up both Matt and I's stuff AND our roomates stuff (and ship it to him since he was going to Utah) AND try and get out of our lease AND figure out what to do with the car the boys bought AND move by myself to Cali. It was nuts but my parents and friends were wonderful in calming me down and working it all out.
My mom flew out to Iowa to help me pack up and drove with me to California. We got a great apartment and were only about 40 minutes from the beach which was wonderful!
About a week after our move we found out that a very good friend of mine (who also happened to be my brother's girlfriend) that was battling cancer for the past year and a half was stopping treatment. The cancer was just too aggressive. It was absolutely AMAZING that God had sent us to California when He did because I was able to then drive home every weekend to see her for the next couple of months. Had we still been in Iowa, I would have never been able to spend those many precious (yet very hard) moments with her. I will forever be greatful for that.
We were in Cali for just over a month when about two weeks before the season ended, Matt came home early from practice and told me he quit! WHAT???!!! I was in total shock. He had definitely been having the struggle of not knowing whether to stay in baseball or not. He had hurt his knee again (the one he had already had two surgeries on) and knew another surgery was in his future if he continued to play. He had to finish out two years of college (since he signed after his sophomore year) and ASU was starting in a couple of weeks so he decided it was time to call it quits, get into school, and start the new chapter. It was a VERY sad day.
Three days after Matt quit my friend, Kulia, passed away. Again, had Matt not quit when he did, he would not have been able to go back home with me for the funeral and to just be there for me the amount that he was. Such a blessing from God. AND just a few days after the funeral, my mom had major surgery so again, by God's blessing, Matt was able to be there for that too.
This was one of the hardest times of the lives of my WHOLE family. Matt had just quit his dream, his passion and was really starting life over. My brother lost his girlfriend. My mom had major surgery and I feel like I was on the sidelines watching everyone fall apart while I was falling apart because of it all too. It was terrible, but God got us through and I can totally look back and see His hand in all of it.
So after the dust settled, we ended year two by packing up our stuff again and moving back to AZ. We knew we wanted to buy something instead of rent so we moved in with Matt's parents and started the house hunt. This was the year where houses were FLYING off the market. A house would get 5 offers the same day it went on the market. It was VERY frustrating but we found the perfect townhouse and GOT IT! Yay, our first real place together that we knew we would be in for longer than a few months :)
Matt and I went through a lot this year. It was definitely one of the most difficult years but I really feel like we grew closer and stronger in our marriage because of it. I couldn't have gone through any of it without my hubby!
Some pics from year two...
On the beach in Dana Pt.
Cedar Rapids, IA
The boys' Lincoln Towncar - they were obsessed with this car! They decked it out with dice in the mirror, a leopard steering wheel cover and would always blast music and recline the seats super low. It was ridiculous!
Groupies (was I technically considered a groupie if I was married to one of the guys?:)
Best Friends Meredith and Crystal in Tennessee
Matt's youngest brother, Will, in Rancho Cucamonga, CA
Signing autographs (several months ago we found one of Matt's autographed rookie cards on Ebay, hahaha)
Me and Will
Me and Kulia
1 comment:
Ugh, my heart breaks reading this. We, unfortunately, know how difficult ending the baseball life can be in and of itself, but to be tried with so much must have been a lot to bear at once. So glad that you had each other during such difficult times...your marriage must have grown so much in just those two first years! *hugs*
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