A Summer of Safe Launches from a "Home Base"
Maya Angelou, the legendary and famous poet, passed away at the age of 86 in May 2014.
Nine years prior, she was the keynote speaker at Michigan State University’s school-wide commencement ceremony on May 6, 2005.
I graduated with my B.A. in journalism that day and missed out on the chance to hear her address the graduating class.
Instead, my family and I decided to take in the Communications Arts and Sciences ceremony at the Breslin Center that directly followed.
I bring her up and the connection to the day I walked across the Breslin Center to receive my degree for one of her famous quotes, “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Over the last two months, while I’m still undergoing a professional transition that is leaving me incredibly scared and anxious, the last part of Angelou’s quote has resonated deeply.
**
The moment the term came out of the mouth of Tami, a cousin on my father’s side, during one of our many one-on-one times that I indelibly cherish, it clicked.
“Home base.”
Why it came up isn’t really important.
What is important is what it means.
She does her best at urging me not to compare myself to others - family or otherwise - and that I’m living, walking, writing and charting my own path.
My cerebral palsy makes some things harder for me to do and that’s something I constantly wrestle with.
One of my passions is traveling, specifically out to the Pacific Northwest and spending time with her, her husband and two sons.
And I’m able to do it while staying with them - utilizing a “home base.”
**
A 10-day trip in July 2024 marked the third straight year I’ve spent an extended period out there with her - one of my happy places.
From coming out for Michigan State’s visit to Husky Stadium in Sept. 2022 and doing some sightseeing to attending the 2023 MLB All-Star Week’s festivities as a belated 40th birthday present to myself, lifelong memories between the two of us have readily been established.
But this year’s visit took things to a higher level, in large part to how she makes me feel.
She’s always challenging me to try new things and to think outside the box.
It’s very easy for me to do that while I’m in her company because I trust her explicitly. I trust her with my life.
I know I’m safe with her, I know that’s everything’s okay when I’m with her and I know she and her husband, Scott, will do whatever in their power to make sure it stays that way when I’m with them.
That - quite frankly - means everything.
Let’s enter in a little hiking trip near their house in Poulsbo, Wash. and then an excursion to Olympic National Park as evidence.
I’m not going to pretend I’m a hiking aficionado.
We rocked both hikes, however, because she never left my side and she had the patience, love and grace to allow me to the time to work through some anxiety because of my balance issues.
And for the record, if it’s a Thursday and Blake is in Washington state, chances are he and Tami are taking in a beautiful mountain range within a national park.
After Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainier on Sept. 15, 2022, and then Mount Rainier again on July 13, 2023, the Devil’s Punch Bowl and Hurricane Ridge amid Olympic National Park were on this year’s docket as July 25, 2024, came and went.
Beyond thankful to have been able to do that with her and I’m sincerely looking forward to what’s next with her.
**
We’re always looking to do new things and have new experiences.
From that trip to Husky Stadium, the Space Needle, Pike Place Market, Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainier in Sept. 2022, to a memorable several days during MLB’s 2023 All-Star Week, I’ve been beyond fortunate to do some really cool things with her and her family.
But something during my July 2024 visit took that to another level.
They say the best things in life happen spontaneously.
A few days into the trip, she and Scott told me that they had plans to go to a Sheryl Crow, Willie Nelson and Chris Stapelton concert with some friends from Scott’s old job at a place that Tami wouldn’t disclose.
So I pull out the Google machine and come to find out that the concert was at Safeco Field and I proceed to tell her, “Have fun at Safeco on Saturday.”
She didn’t want to tell me because of how much I love the home of the Mariners - and I love that about her.
Scott asked me if I had any interest in going and I immediately jumped at the chance because I had never been to a concert before.
What made it even more special is because it was unexpected and I didn’t know it was coming upon landing at Sea-Tac International Airport on July 20.
We had an absolute blast and it’s yet another lifelong memory with someone I love dearly.
An added bonus: I now know I can pull off a cowboy hat.
**
I can’t buy what I have with Tami.
It’s a special bond, it’s one that’s hard for me to describe and it’s one that I don’t have with anyone else - if you will allow me to be frank.
We just click, we understand each other, I’d do anything for her and I know that feeling is reciprocated.
I’m forever grateful for that.
Leaving Seattle is always hard for me and it never gets easier because of what that place - and what she and her family - means to me.
After we hugged each other at the security checkpoint and I eventually made my way to Gate D26 awaiting my flight on July 30, I sat there and tears starting coming down my face and it took a bit for them to stop.
When you don’t know when you’ll return to a place that brings you a lot of happiness and joy, it’s extremely hard.
It’ll just make that next hug mean even more.
**
I have a complicated relationship with my alma mater.
While I have always tried to love my university, I’ve never really felt that it has loved me back - for reasons I’m not going to go into here.
But I tried to make the most out of my time in East Lansing, living on campus all four years (2001-05) and not being able to venture out too much.
I can count the number of good college friends on one hand.
Quite candidly, I don’t have many.
But the ones I do have are quality people and will always be there for me.
**
John Caldwell, who grew up in Pittsburgh, was born exactly four days before Grant, a cousin on my mother’s side, and five days before my brother-in-law Matt.
John, who’s three years older than me, graduated from Michigan State in 2003.
We first met while we were student assistants for Michigan State’s Sports Information Department, helping out at men’s basketball games.
We quickly became friends and we got together as much as we could for the two years we overlapped in school and then when he set up shop near Detroit upon his graduation - interning for the Lions and then getting a full-time job as an associate project manager with ePrize.
We spent time together in our respective hometowns, him in Naperville and Chicago in Oct. 2003, June 2004, Aug. 2004, Sept. 2004, and I came out to Pittsburgh in May 2004, June 2006 and June 2010.
A road trip from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia followed three years later in July 2013 and then we last saw each other at a Oregon-Michigan State football game in Sept. 2015.
**
When he reached out a few months ago to see if we could plan a short trip for me to come out to Pittsburgh to see him, his wife, Katie, and their two daughters, I wanted to do whatever to make it happen.
The Mariners’ visit during a weekend in the middle of August made perfect sense, as it marked my return to PNC Park for the first time in 14 years.
Safeco Field and PNC Park are undoubtedly my two favorite parks in all of MLB and to be able to visit both within a 23-day span, I’m fortunate and thankful.
The fact Paul Skenes, the No. 1 overall pick out of LSU in the 2023 MLB Draft and the National League’s starter in the 2024 MLB All-Star Game in Arlington, Texas, started for the Pirates against the Mariners on Aug. 16 and I was there to see it - all the better.
And the fact we went back two days later on Aug. 18 and I got a little TV time while wearing a Mariners’ bucket hat and sitting very, very close to the Mariners’ dugout on the first-base side, it’s all good.
Baseball defines me in a lot of ways and I still hope to make it my life’s work at some point down the road.
It will always be the biggest passion in my life. And that’s never going to change.
Baseball makes a lot of things go for me and it truly is a happy place for me. Those who know me very well - like Tami and John - will vouch for that.
While a shot of me with the Space Needle in the background has become a healthy obsession for me, a landmark 2,509 miles away - the Roberto Clemente Bridge in Pittsburgh - has felt that way for a little longer.
They close it from traffic during Pirates’ games, so people can walk on it (while also using pedestrian walkways) and it’s one hell of a backdrop - while you’re in PNC Park or not.
I literally have a scar on my lower right elbow, resulting from a fall on the bridge from an earlier trip. So one could argue I own a little piece of the Sixth Street Bridge.
**
My 15th day at Michigan State was Sept. 11, 2001.
I didn’t have any early classes on that beautiful Tuesday in East Lansing, so it took me a while to find out and be aware of what was going on.
As a journalist and as someone who prides himself as being an informed citizen on current events, I have never really been able to forgive myself throughout the 23 years since. And I suspect that will always be the case.
United Airlines’ Flight 93 crashed in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, at 10:03 AM EST on that fateful morning as 40 heroes paid the ultimate sacrifice and prevented further tragedy at the United States Capitol.
I had been wanting to visit the memorial for many years and John and I were able to do that while I was out there.
It was an emotional, eerie, powerful and raw experience but one that I’m glad I went through. It should be on the to-do list for every single American because we can never forget what happened.
To be able to share that drive and visit to Shanksville with him meant a lot because he told me afterwards how glad he was that I had brought the idea up and that we did it.
**
Who you spend your time with matters.
Relationships matter and cultivating them and nurturing them matters.
If anyone tells you different, they’re lying to you or perhaps, even worse, being a little naive.
Tami is good at reminding me of that, just in case I sometimes lose sight of it.
I know I need to spend time with Tami and I need to spend more time with John.
Both of them mean a lot to me and they’re both there for whatever I’m going through.
And I hope I’m there for both of them, as well.
I don’t want it to be a one-way street, even if I suspect I may get more out of bouncing things off of them than the other way around because I don’t have that one person to rely on for things of that nature.
I’m going through a very scary, anxious and nervous time because I don’t know where my next professional move is going to come from.
I don’t want my two years at ESPN (2022-2024) to be as good as it gets for me. I’m good at what I do and I’m passionate about what I do.
I’m not done and I’ve got more work to do.
It’s difficult for me to travel solo and vacation by myself.
I wish I could do more of it because it is a passion of mine and I enjoy it very much.
Amid an uncertain time and transition in my life, I needed to have some fun in a pair of places that have a special place in my heart.
That’s how the summer of 2024 - with the help of Tami, Scott, John and Katie - will be defined for me.
A pair of safe launches from a “home base” and a pair of much-needed respites.
And I couldn’t have done it without them.
