My trip to Vegas wore me out.  As you can tell from my posts, I had an amazing time.  The three hour time difference definitely contributed to what exhausted me, but literally being engulfed in an environment that combines the two motivating factors that have propelled my life—my aneurysm and baseball—I’m just emotionally exhausted from how amazing that trip was and the possibilities that may appear to be developing for my future.

I never wanted to give up baseball, but I had to in a sense.  I don’t talk about baseball much because of the severe love/hate relationship we had.  Overcoming a disability is hard enough; add in discrimination from coaches on each level you try to ascend to and it’s a very arduous and often debilitating road.

My parents sacrificed a lot to get me well from the time I was three years old even through today.  They have done so much for me, to help me attain a normal life, that I owed it to them to have a stable career.  As tempting as it even still is to chase a fleeting dream, my parents have worked so hard to give me every opportunity possible in my life.  I owed it to them to capitalize on everything they have done for me and provide stability for myself.

That’s where their sacrifices and love has gotten me.  I am fully independent.  I have had my driver’s license for over a year now!  There’s nothing holding me back in my life.  For the first time I am recognizing that, and it’s an odd feeling.  It’s amazing though.

I’ve spent a lot of time this month pounding away at my book, and I am taking a less intense approach as I’ve reached the last 20% of the book.  It’s very emotional and draining to relive some of these memories, especially now that I am at a point where baseball is coming to a close again.  The Joe Niekro Foundation gave me so much happiness and energy when they invited me out to Vegas to participate in this fantasy camp.  To go from that high to the deepest low in leaving my college baseball team, which just happened in the chapter I finished, requires a lot of reflection.  It’s not a process that should be rushed.  As I have learned since getting out of the hospital bed for the first time, patience is a virtue.  It’s also a huge pain having to wait too.

Best things are worth waiting for though, and a huge part of the wait and the resulting appreciation stems from the value being built in the pursuit.  There’s always something new or unprecedented driving me forward that I’m determined to accomplish.  The main reason I am so determined is because my parents gave me the strength to be able to pursue ad achieve things that nobody, even my neurosurgeon, thought possible.

I apologize for neglecting these posts and I promise to start being more attentive here.  There’s just been a lot going on, but things are finally starting to get organized and come together.  It’s just amazing how things from your past can come back and propel you forward.  It’s amazing how everything works together and has a way of making sense.

I still got up for breakfast at 7 AM and then spent the morning at the pool and the hot tub.  After a couple hours I meet up with the girl who I met yesterday and we together babysit the twins that she is watching.  They play up at the playground, we (well, I) push them around the outside of the resort and we even find a tented gazebo with a ton of shade for the boys to run around.  They exhaust themselves until it is time for them to get lunch and take their nap.

While the girl I met is feeding the boys lunch, I run off and get us lunch at the tiki bar area.  We hang out for an hour or so longer before I have to get ready for dinner and the evening.  I have a little time before dinner, so I decide to relax my body one last time in the hot tub.

Sure enough, that one final dip in the hot tub exposes my phone to just enough moisture to have it fritz out and not turn on again AT ALL.  The entire ride to dinner, tonight is the night that we are taking our coaches out to dinner, I am trying to dry out my battery to no avail.

Dinner of course takes longer than we plan and Jon Warden, our very colorful (both personality and clothes-wise) coach and announcer is given an hour to do an impromptu stand up routine.  I cannot post any of the jokes on here—Jon will sue me, of course—but one of the funniest ones I have ever heard involves a single, not-so-attractive 40 year old woman.

It was a fun night but I’m as close to getting my phone fixed as I was to getting to an AT&T store all day—nowhere.  So much for seeing anybody after the comedy hour.  At least my body isn’t sore after that last trip to the hot tub.  Tomorrow better be a great game for all the ruckus that last dip caused.

Before heading off to the bus after breakfast, the woman who has been catering our breakfast overheard my issue with my phone.  She gave me a whole tin of rice to try and soak the water out of my battery, but I have already decided to get a new phone during my break after today’s final game.  Up 2-1 after winning both games of the double header, we can win tonight, giving one player Rick a perfect record, and George a .750 winning percentage this go around.  We all know how I love the number 75…

I ask the woman at breakfast if I can get a to-go container for breakfast.  I fill it up with bacon, sausage and eggs and leave it outside the girl’s door from last night (keeping her name hidden for now if you haven’t caught on).  Then I go put my phone pieces in the rice before heading out to the game.

Heading out to the field, Kevin’s wife, the kids and the babysitter come to the game.  I wind up botching a grounder straight at me and then, on a second play, I get my glove flip down perfectly but throw the ball away.  Clearly I have to get my head in place.  She did get the breakfast though and I got a smile.

We wind up winning the game by 6.  One of the guys on the other team said if they had caught up Ozzie would have gone in to play short.  We all might have blown our lead just to see that.  Oh well.  We didn’t know.

Cleaning up and taking all our stuff out of the locker room, I rush to find someone to take me to the closest AT&T store.  After scrambling to find someone, I get to AT&T.  I get a new phone and I am now a smart phone owner.  I can supposedly download free music though, which is awesome.

Getting back, I don’t have much time before the fantasy camp final dinner, so I make sure to get cleaned up and dress nicely.  Walking down to the dining room for dinner, in one of the meeting rooms part of the resort extension, I sit down at the table closest to the podium since I know Natalie wants me to speak.  I even have my speech in my pocket that I wrote a night or two back.

We take a drink of liquor every 36 minutes in honor of Natalie’s father.  Dave speaks before we eat our salad, followed by steak with potatoes and a delicious custard type dessert. Natalie speaks afterwards and as she introduces me, she reads an email that my dad sent her.  She’s crying and I tear up a bit too.  My dad gets so emotional when it comes to baseball, haha.

Natalie introduces me and I read my speech.  Not only do I get a standing ovation, but Rollie Fingers—who is a guest for the night—tells me that I could have played for his team with the determination I have, and the girl winds up haering that I made people cry.  Good tears, all good tears.

There's an auction on a few items.  The Joe Niekro signed ball goes for $1500.  Lunch with Phil Niekro goes for $3000 to two people.  I’m bidding early just for fun, getting outbid within seconds of me putting my hand up.  Next up is GEORGE Brett’s coaching jersey from camp- signed.  By the time I shoot my hand up the $100 bids are at $500.  Hands go down.  No one raises their hand again.  They let me have it for $500.  Ozzie’s jersey and pants signed went for $1100.  I can’t believe these people.  I have made such amazing friends.

After getting a text from the babysitter about how she heard I made people cry, I reply but don’t hear back.  AT&T has horrible service inside the resort, and in Vegas in general.  As much as I would like to see her, we live an hour away at home.  I’ll see her then.  Tonight was such an amazing night.  Everything else can wait.  I go to bed smiling.  Getting my picture taken with Rollie, Natalie and Jon…I’m going to have so many new default profile pictures to choose from now!