So You Want to Marry a Baseball Player

Or maybe (probably) you don’t. You see, marrying a baseball player is much trickier than you would think. At the beginning of this season, Nik was assigned to play in Charleston. We hoped/wished/prayed that he would get moved up to Tampa during the season but nothing’s certain in baseball so we prepared for the worst (that he would be in Charleston the whole year) and planned wedding activities accordingly.

We took our engagement pictures during Spring Training (because the other option –taking pictures by myself and photoshopping him in—seemed unappealing for some reason). We also registered in March (my favorite plates from Crate and Barrel are now gone-sad) when our minds were so far away from this wedding and having a household that we mostly wandered around with Nik insisting that we needed at least one more trivet and two ice cream scoops. Thank goodness this process can also be completed online. And, if you’re thinking, why didn’t you just do the whole thing online or without Nik…well, let’s just say someone was very excited to be in possession of a scanner gun and I’m not one to deny people the privilege of simple joys.

The timing, as are most things in our life, was also dictated by baseball. I had always dreamed of being a May bride. That’s when my parents got married and isn’t May just the best month you can imagine? Well, that dream died. Because, you know, trying to squeeze in a cross-country wedding on an off-day seemed to require a degree of effort we were not willing to put forth. Not to mention, a very-delayed honeymoon. So we had exactly four and a half months to choose from. But the closer you get to Spring Training—the dicier things get what with having to be on the throwing and work out program and all that. So it was decided. October it was and, you know, that’s not such a bad month. In fact, it’s my second favorite after May so it all works out but then…

Nik got hurt. He pitched 80-something innings when he was supposed to pitch 125. They can make up for that in baseball-it’s called Instructional League (Instructs is what the cool kids say). They bring new draftees who didn’t play a whole season or injured players or other such types back to Tampa for something akin to a fall spring training. And do you know when it starts? Well, neither do I. These baseball people tell you nothing…never mind that you have a LIFE to plan here. I do know when it ends though. October 7. As in one day before our wedding (we have to be there at 8AM Saturday, October 8). We’re hoping the coordinators will be nice enough to let Nik leave in time for us to take care of, I don’t know, the little details like our marriage license.

In conclusion, it appears to be easier to marry not a baseball player than the alternative. But, hey, no one ever said moving up in the world of WAGdom was easy.