It’s always said that you are the one and only author of the story entitled “My Life,” that it remains up to us to distinguish each chapter and provide the vivid, intricate and spontaneously beautiful details.
Though each story is full of variables we can’t control, ranging from the people who walk into our lives to the opportunities that fall into our laps, it is the manner in which we embrace these uncertainties that gives each life its dazzling uniqueness. If the most recent chapter included the annotation of my four years at The University, it would unquestionably be called “The Greatest Times of my Life” (a chapter whose title I hope continues to cover my life for years to come). As that chapter was figuratively closed with the Walking of the Lawn, punctuated with a magical run at a National Championship, the next chapter commences in a new location with new people … and for a different team.
This “in-progress” chapter of my life is filled with long days culminated in bus rides into morning dawns, random hotel rooms fostering newly formed friendships, and above all else pitching every fifth day under a canopy of lights sheltering a barrage of peanut-eating, beer-drinking hecklers who love to watch the game I live to play. I am beyond blessed to be in the midst of writing the chapter I have wished and waited on for so long, a chapter whose length is yet to be determined and whose details are yet to be discovered. All cliches aside, I’ll call it “Living the Dream.”
Most kids share the ambition to one day become some type of professional athlete; up until two months ago I shared this dream. On a particularly stereotypical hot July Monday, dancing around the outskirts of downtown Baltimore amidst mid-workday commotion, Camden Yards welcomed its most recent member of the Oriole family. Though the big league club may have been out of town, the sun shone eloquently through every window scattered across the right field warehouse. I sat directly upright in the leather plated rolling chair, cuddled up so close to the mahogany table that it tickled my belly whenever I inhaled. A minor league contract, but more importantly a once in a lifetime opportunity, stared back up at me. The sun oozing through the window was a perfect excuse for the nervous sweat beading on my forehead. When the call came through approving my blood test, I was finally cleared.
The 48 hours prior to that moment had been littered with physical examinations to ensure that the ‘goods’ they were about to purchase weren’t damaged. An MRI on both my elbow and shoulder would prove to be the most uncomfortable two hour static position I’ve ever held. A drug test, blood test, Orthopedic exam, generic physical, Optometrist visit, and MRI left me assured that if there was anything I was hiding from them, it would have been discovered.
The assistant hung up the phone and gave me the final thumbs up; the organization relegated me fit for the task at hand. As I slowly put my name on that dotted line, I reminisced about everything that had gotten me to that point; the people who never stopped pushing me, believing in me. I remembered everyone who grinded through workouts alongside me and challenged me to be the best I could be. I remembered all those who never stopped loving me. Then I remembered how each of these people was brought into my life by the Lord. So at that moment in which I began the next stage in my life, I thanked God for how he brought me to where I was and for whom he allowed me to share it with. Then I prayed the next chapter of my life be filled with even more love and, ultimately, glory to His name.
Needless to say, it was one of the most powerful moments of my life. I finished signing, put on my first Orioles hat and had never been so happy to take a solo picture (“Why would anybody ever want a picture of me by myself?” was always my take on those) I left Camden Yards that day destined for Florida, wondering if and when I would return to this baseball cathedral for good.
I’ll save the next batch of goodies for another article pertaining to my first interaction with a new group of guys, preparing my arm for a strenuous daily throwing schedule, all the way up to my first nerve-filled professional start.
In closing, I’m beyond ecstatic to embark on this chapter of my life. And in the same manner I have, I urge those reading to take advantage of each opportunity presented to you; who knows what it might bring you? Who knows how you might impact another? With this initial abstract laid out, I’ll continue the story I’m so passionate about. The Baltimore Orioles are my new home and my new team, but these Blue and Orange colors will never run.
“Beyond The Lawn” is a 12-month series found exclusively on TheSabre.com that follows three Virginia Cavaliers through a year as a professional athlete. Baseball’s Tyler Wilson (Baltimore Orioles), track and field’s Stephanie Marie Garcia (U.S. Olympic hopeful), and football’s Clint Sintim (New York Giants) share their experiences throughout the year.
