Saturday, April 24, 2010

Home is wherever I'm with you.

Ah, yes.  Here I am, I'm back to blog a little bit.  I've been packing and moving and unpacking and making our apartment here in Louisville a home for the past few weeks so forgive me for being completely MIA for over a month...

We made it through spring training - whew!  What an exciting and anxious 2 months that was, no doubt!  But we made it through together, all in one piece and learned SO much in that stressful atmosphere full of uncertainties.  Matt was absolutely and incredibly AWESOME through it all - always so calm and collected.  Yes, he experienced some major frustration but turned that negative energy into strength and control in order to begin his 3A season on top.  And I made it through with the intense and fulfilling help of my yoga practice - I finished my 60 day Bikram Yoga Challenge the Friday before camp broke!  60 Bikram classes in 58 days for me!  It was an incredible experience, incredible, changed my life for sure.  It just so happened that Matt found out that same day (Friday) that he would be starting the season in Louisville again - so funny how things like that work out.  So, Friday was kind of the climax of our spring training and the relief we both felt that night was intense but such a good feeling.  Obviously we had hoped for Matt to start the season in Cincinnati but our faith in karma and everything happening just the way it is supposed to not only comforted us but really allowed us to be totally excited about going back to Louisville - a city we both love!  We spent Friday night spouting off all the things we were going to do when we got to Louisville, each thing getting us more stoked about being there.

We try to always look at things in perspective - it could be so much worse and when we think of it like that, it seems not only silly to complain, but selfish and ungrateful.  We are so grateful to have one another, good family and friends surrounding us, a wonderful city to spend time in, an excellent coaching staff to take care of Matt, great teammates, healthy bodies to help us do everything well, healthy minds to keep us living in the moment, and the fun-loving spirits that allow us to have a good time no matter where we go in life :)  

Here we are in Louisville then - we rented an apartment in the same complex we lived in last year except this year, instead of renting all of our furniture, we moved all of our things from Columbus and Huron that had been in storage to Louisville (including all of our wedding gifts!).  We are surrounded by all of our own things!  I never knew it would make this big of a difference - it is wonderful!  I decided to make this happen because we hadn't had any of our own things - our bed, dressers, kitchenware, etc. - in over a year!  And since we'd been renting vacation homes (in Austin and in Goodyear), we'd been staying in fully furnished places which is all great but not for long periods of time.  Matt had been bumming about "never feeling home" anywhere because 1) we move around so much and 2) we never had any of our own things.  I knew it was really bothering him and that he just wasn't comfortable.  So, although I knew it would be a pain in the ass and a lot of moving and unpacking and sorting, I decided to move everything to Louisville so that Matt could have a real home to come home to.  We've spent about 3 weeks gathering, moving, unpacking, rearranging and we are finally pretty settled into our cozy little place.  I am SO GLAD we decided to do it because WOW - it does make a huge difference and Matt is so happy and I love that he's so happy :)  

Life has been good, so good.  We have been having a great time with teammates and wives and family here.  We haven't been worrying at all about what will happen tomorrow, or next week, or the rest of the season - we really have just been enjoying every moment we have here.  Not only is life so much more enjoyable this way, but things go so much more smoothly and Matt can easily go out and do his job on the mound because he is comfortable, confident, and not caught up in what's going to happen next.  The feeling of ease that we both have is something I truly wish for everyone - and it comes from simply appreciating what you have now and where you are at now.

Currently, Mo is on the 7 day DL (disabled list) for that nasty blister on his left hand middle finger that hasn't fully healed since last August!  He is scheduled to pitch again in Scranton on April 29th and has been throwing the past couple of days and says everything feels good.  I have been asking family, friends, strangers (LOL) to send healing energy and prayers to his finger for a speedy and full recovery and I think its been working so THANK YOU!  He has been having a great start to the season so far - below is a link to an good article on him with a summary of how things are going:

Lots of fun things are going on in Louisville right now - we just had Thunder Over Louisville this past weekend and now its Kentucky Derby Festival all the way until next Saturday!  So, although the boys will be on a long 8 day road trip next week, there will be plenty of fun to be had in Louisville!  Friends are coming down and I'll be in my big hat at the Derby to pass the time while Mo is away ;)

Note to self: going to try to be better about blogging this month... cheers!

PICTURES OF OUR HOME:






PICTURES OF FUN IN LOUISVILLE THUS FAR: