It never ceases to amaze me how many people think that the life of a baseball player is all glitz and glamour. While major leaguers get to enjoy more luxuries than those in the minor leagues, the road to the top is not at all glamorous.
This past year I decided to quit my job at The University of Miami where I was an Event Planner to pursue a more flexible career in Real Estate. This career change would afford me the luxury of traveling more to see my husband and the option to move altogether. Currently I am working at my sister’s real estate company which caters to athletes and entertainers as well as high net-worth individuals, in short we do luxury real estate. This is something that I have done on and off for about five years but it wasn’t until a few months ago that I considered it my job and not just an additional source of income.
Now I fast forward to Spring Training 2012 where my husband was suddenly added to the Yankees 40-man roster despite being injured since May 2010 and making a name for himself as the guy that killed the deal with Cliff Lee. Yeah, that would be my husband, David Adams. Now we believe that everything happens for a reason and that David was only a piece to the larger puzzle that was the Cliff Lee Trade. If you ask me, I think it turned out for the best, but that may be a biased statement.
Being in the minor leagues is a constant struggle. Half of coupled players live a nomadic life with their better half in hand while the other 50% fight through the difficult feat of a long-distance relationship. I have been the latter for what feels like the last zillion years. Since David left to attend the University of Virginia and I stayed to attend the “U” here in Miami, we have maintained a long distance relationship. This is the first year however that I have considered uprooting this comfortable life I have created in my amazing hometown of Miami to move with my husband. Now that seems like the obvious choice, but when you have bills to pay and you are living off a signing bonus and a nominal minor league salary, in a time when unemployment is at an all time high, leaving a steady well-paying job in a town you know, seems like the last resort.
I am still standing at the fork in the road trying to decide what direction to take, but whatever the choice, I have to take a leap of faith and not look back. David and I aren’t totally sure what the answer is but I suppose there is no right or wrong answer, just unwavering faith that whatever decision we make will work out.