Forever - Christian Yelich

Inconvenient.

Brooklyn~

Just like that, we're already back at the airport to head to Phoenix for the next seven weeks. I had to go in early to report with pitchers and catchers, but Christian came early with me this time. We waited at our packed gate, ready to board our flight. I watched as many planes took off and landed on the runway. The sun shined down on the airport and into the terminal making it very bright and luminous. "We're boarding," Christian says getting my attention as I listened to some music. I look up from my phone and take his hand so he can pull me up. 

We make our way onto the plane and into our seats. After we took off I took out my laptop so I can hopefully do some work. The flight isn't that long so I can at least get something small done, like clearing out my email and answering a few. Christian leaned his head on my shoulder and watched me for 20 minutes before falling asleep. 

This first week is always so brutal. It's a lot of staff meetings that bore me to pieces. I don't really get to work with the guys as much as I want to this week. Meetings, stocking cabinets, and doing physicals for all of the new players take priority over the returning players.

Soon the flight attendants come around and tell everyone to put away their electronics which is when I wake Christian up from his very short nap. I run my fingers through his hair and whisper, "We're about to land."

He moves his head and tries to stretch as best as possible in the seat. "Did you work the entire time?"

"Yeah. I had nothing better to do."

"Babe, I'm taking the car. I have a few meetings I need to go to," I say coming into our living room in the apartment we have in Phoenix.

Christian sits on the couch watching TV, "Okay. Do you know what time you'll be back?"

"It shouldn't be more than five hours. We have staff meetings and briefings. Then Mark and Matt have to talk to Jordan, Sarah, and me about some stuff. I also think David wants to sit down with me."

"Sounds like you have such a fun day ahead of you," he says sarcastically as I put my shoes on. I roll my eyes, "Can't wait for it." He laughs and I lean over the couch to kiss him. "I love you. Drive safe."

"Love you, too."

"Brooklyn, how are you. Congratulations as well," Mark says to me as I make my way into the conference room with David. 

"I'm doing well. Thank you."

"Good, good. So Matt and I did some thinking over the off-season and if you remember when Scott was here, he did things a bit differently than you do things in the Athletic Training department as of right now," Where the hell could he be going with this? I just nod looking over at David, "That being said, we want that to return. What you do is amazing but I think we find his method more effective." What the hell is talking about?

I lean onto the table more, "I'm sorry, I guess I'm having a hard time understanding why you want me to switch back to that. I believe that what he taught me is effective and efficient, but that being said, I've developed something possibly more effective. Obviously, I don't know the exact numbers, but I'm sure the percentage of injuries has gone down since I've been here. I know for a fact we haven't had any major injuries since I've been here."

"Yes, they have, which is great. We see and appreciate how much you care, but we need to speed up the process of effectiveness."

I shake my head, "You can't speed up healing time. That's just not a possibility. It's not safe on the athlete's end and I'm not licensed to give them an 'okay' job. I'm licensed to heal and help heal injuries effectively, but more importantly, in a safe manner. I'm more than willing to come up with a plan to increase effectiveness and efficiency, but with all due respect, I believe that's what I'm currently working with."