Work-Life-Baseball Balance

The other day I thought to myself--  "hey, I'm doing better with not working at nights and weekends as much and learning how to disconnect from work" . Which is partially true. I’ve one been bringing my laptop home a couple nights a week which is a big change from the every night but when I thought about why,  the reason wasn’t as exciting as I thought it would be—It’s only because I don't have time.

There are days I have to leave work early to pick Talon up from wherever he is then drop him off at the ballpark by 5:00pm for a game. He has to be there an hour before the game starts so even though I have an hour to kill, there is no sense of my wasting 30 mins to commute to and from home so I just stay at ballpark. There are nights we don’t leave the ballpark until after 10pm. I even once pulled Talon from a scrimmage early because we didn't get him till almost midnight the night before, he had been at the ballpark for 5 hours straight already, We were tired, hungry because we hadn’t ate, I needed to wash the sweat off me and restart the washing machine for the third time in hopes I'll have time to get the clothes to the dryer this time.

Only do it all over again-- another scrimmage, then leaving work early to play 3 days in Indiana or 3 days in Louisville because they schedule a game at 3:30pm on a Friday. Don’t these schedulers know we have jobs!

I work less from home only because I don't have as much time. Often times I'll work in my car while waiting for the game to start or during practice to save time (thank goodness for iphone hotspots). My job is demanding. I love it but it's demanding, and if you get behind, it's so hard to get caught up.

I absolutely love what I do. But when you try to do all of that and keep up with a mini major leaguer, make time for your husband, house, and rest of your family, AND sleep, it’s tough.

And let’s talk about the food situation. Do you know how hard it is to cook dinner when you are at work all day and at the ballpark most nights of the week? I’ve had enough burgers, hot dogs, and fast food to last a lifetime. I once resorted to ordering Ginza at 9:30pm at night just so I wouldn't have to eat another hot dog. 

Oh but then there’s the part where I'm a newlywed and we are trying to have a baby. That in itself can be stressful on a relationship. But trying to get pregnant in a small time frame with health issues and constantly having to decide if we should keep trying or wait – even more stressful.

I haven't gone to church in months because if we aren't at ballpark, those rare Sunday's we have off I want to be lazy, not shower, and lay by pool since that rarely happens. We finally made it last Sunday and had a joking conversation with our minister ‘reintroducing ourselves’ because it felt like it had been that long. I explained to him why we hadn’t been to church in MONTHS with the promise that after this next weekend, baseball is over and we’ll be back for good.

WRONG! Turns out the first tournament for fall ball will be the second weekend of August. We get one weekend off. One. Talon has been playing since January. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love watching him play ball. And he absolutely loves playing ball. There is no place I’d rather be than watching him on the field doing what he loves, but trying to create a work-life-baseball balance is tough.

But I’m learning. I’m learning that my house can’t always be clean. That I can’t always get laundry done in one day. If I don’t want to eat burgers, hotdogs, and fast food then I have to plan ahead. That maybe I just have to be okay with watching our church sermons online for now. That if a baby doesn't happen right away and we have to wait until next year to try again, then that's okay. That if I want to enjoy everything in my life, I have to be flexible. That at the end of the day, if everything I wanted to get done doesn't get done, so long as I'm spending that time on the relationships in my life, that's all that really matters. 

These are some of the best days of mine and Talon's lives, and though sometimes they are long, overwhelming, and so completely exhausting, one day they'll be gone, so I'm going to enjoy every minute of it.