Yes, for all intents and purposes this is the same post I published on this date last year. Wait until you see Saturday’s post.
On this day in 1999, my wonderful wife and I moved in together. We were not yet married, but we were engaged and this was just five months before the wedding; we have happily lived together ever since.
On this day in 2004, my marvelous mom died. Obviously, the fact that these two events at opposite ends of the happiness spectrum happened on the same date is a coincidence. Still, to me it is a stark reminder that life is filled with good and bad and we have to deal with all of it.
This past Monday (the 6th) marked the 31st anniversary of the day I was fired by my hometown baseball team, fired because of a lie. That is more ironic when one considers that I had been offered a 35 percent raise AND an employment contract just 2-3 weeks earlier. A contract would have made it extremely difficult for me to be fired without being paid. The contract was probably never executed because of the same lie that got me fired.
For years I wanted nothing more than to work for the Baltimore Orioles. Be careful what you wish for because you may get it?
The following year I was able to resume working in baseball in a full-time capacity. I left that job, on my own accord, after four-plus years. After a year away I was able to re-boot my baseball career and create a fulfilling and lucrative business as a baseball consultant until baseball decided I was obsolete.
With the last 20+ years on my resume having been nothing but baseball, I was never able to find a rewarding and interesting career post-baseball and have been de facto retired, unwillingly until recently, for more than a decade despite the fact that I am far from being the dullest knife in the drawer.
Virtually everything in life is a trade-off; it’s just that most times we don’t know what the ultimate benefits and costs of our decisions will be. Here’s to my wonderful wife and my marvelous mom.
#VeryGoodAndVeryBad