Look at the Bright side

On a lovely night in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on the first floor of a historic Victorian Mansion, I sat downstairs by the dining area listening to orchestra music. In fear of not waking up in time, I decided to stay awake all night and wait for the morning to arrive because my transportation was going to be departing at 6:30 am. As I listened to the music play in the background, it reminded me of the bizarre things that occurred earlier that day. Prior to my journey, I had watched a documentary about singers and song writers, and one of the artists spoke about how some of the worst moments in their lives inspired them to write amazing songs that the world now highly regards. It’s amazing how such painful, dark moments can bring such beautiful inspirational writings.

Earlier that morning, as I prepared myself to attend the baseball game one of my biggest fears had occurred. I lost more than 300 plus photos I had taken on my journey, and I almost missed the Twins games because I arrived very late. The most heart breaking thing about what had occurred was the deep connection I had to those photos. I don’t know how to explain how those moments and sites impacted my person, but I can honestly say I didn’t feel the same about the other locations I had visited prior to arriving in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Minneapolis, Minnesota. I had seen many cities during that tour and experienced many wonderful things, but I didn’t feel so connected like I did with those two cities. Maybe I felt so connected and at home, because those two cities and the surrounding terrain reminded me a lot about my beloved Germany. It would take a whole article to write about why Germany is so special to me, but I can say I was deeply impacted by its culture in the short time I was there back in 2004. Simply, Germany was the place I received my second chance at life.

Honestly, losing those photos affected me more than I expected. Everything I did the rest of the day was almost out of tune, and I felt like I didn’t have energy. I even had problems getting into the game because I was so late. Thankfully, the Twins organization was so kind to allow me entry into the stadium, because my credentials were still at hand. As I waited for my credentials, I spoke to the kind people that worked at the gate, and they helped me out a lot. Finally, I was greeted by a sweet, kind young lady named Cori Frankenberg, who is one of the Twins Baseball Communications Assistant. She made me feel much better because she was very attentive, and what was even more comforting is that she spoke Spanish. If you’re having a bad day, there are only few specific things that can comfort a person, and one of those is speaking to a person in their native language.

Once I settled in at the press box, I fell back into my sorrow and the game kind of floated by in front of my eyes. This game was actually an exciting game, but my mind couldn’t fathom what had happened earlier, so I was in an out of the game mentally. After the great game finished, Mrs. Frankenberg came by once more and checked up on me. She ended up taking me to the locker room where I got the opportunity to interview, Eduardo Nunez, who trained alongside, Derek Jeter. He spoke highly about Mr. Jeter and said that he admired him all his life. During his time with the Yankees he had the opportunity to get mentored by him, and he said he continues to have a close relationship with Mr. Jeter.

After the short interview, I left Target Field thinking about how many people have gone through tough times, but still continue to strive to do their very best. Even through all the scrutiny from the media, the very beautiful Miss Lolo Jones has continued living her life and continues to inspire many around the world. As I approached Marriot Hotel in downtown Minneapolis, the last place Eddy Guerrero checked in, but never checkout of; it reminded me of his book titled “Cheating Death, Stealing Life: The Eddy Guerrero Story”. In his book he talked about how he had to take everything one day at a time, because he constantly battled with alcoholism. It was an emotional moment for me to walk by that building, because I greatly admired him, especially since he was also from my hometown. One thought that crossed my mind as I walked by the hotel was, I may have lost some meaningful photos, but I got to meet one of the very few people that was mentored and trained alongside one of the greatest shortstops to ever play in the MLB. Like I learned in economics class, When you gain something, you also lose something else.

It might sound like im being a big baby, but if you know me well, there are only a few things that matter to me and not much actually affects my emotional state. Just like when a catastrophic forest fire destroys millions of acres, one would think that was a bad thing, but the largest breed of trees, the Sequoia, ironically thrives from such disaster. Those fires help prepare the location it will grow in, its nutrition, and protect it from insects that could attack it. Thankfully, I didn’t go through fire, or lose a loved one; but the work and pain I had endured to get such perfect photos is what hurt me the most. Still, maybe those moments were just for me to enjoy, and I wasn’t supposed to share them with the rest of the world, or that just happened to give me another excuse to return back to those beautiful northern states. Like the character named Chimoltrufia, from the popular Mexican TV classic “Chespirto” used to say,

“Look at the bright side”