Adulting with the neighbors

This morning was the big day for PEG tube placement. Jason and I were prepared. We had talked about it a lot, read through the pamphlets, we were optimistic, had our superman t-shirts on (provided by Cassie and Tiara, as seen in earlier posts), and were ready to get in the van by 5:05am. THEN....the van's battery was dead. We called AAA and immediately started texting our neighbors by 5:15. We needed to be an hour away at Emory at 6:30am. With the I-85 fire and collapse last week, we had allowed

plenty of time to get there. I had anticipated that things do go wrong and had packed overnight bags just in case. I never anticipated that our van would be the issue and that we would never make the appointment. Our neighbor, Sean was up and at our house by 5:30. He worked on trying to jump start our van for an entire hour. In this time, I called Emory and they were to get back to me. We were unsuccessful using a second vehicle and AAA arrived around 7:15. Our neighbors, Angela and Kris were up and walked over to help. They were able to hear some information from AAA that I might miss and to just offer support. We learned that with all the extra equipment on the van, that the van constantly pulls power, even when not cranked. A regular set of jump start things from car to car would take so much time to provide enough power. That being said, the guy says to make sure to crank the car for 15-20 minutes daily. I realize today that I haven't gone anywhere since grocery shopping 3 days ago (where is the emoji with wide eyes in this program?) Emory called around 7:45 to say it needed to be rescheduled until next week.

What a rough morning. ADULTING at it's best.

We have talked about our neighbors being amazing, but have never written a post about it...

Sean and Trish- Sean has come to our house to hang out with Jason for games and races. Sean always asks how we are. At the pool, he is always the grill master AND was manning the grill at our get together after the ALS walk back last September, cooking for around 30 people. Spending an hour trying to get the van started when he didn't even have to go to work today-testament to how much our neighbors are doing to help us. Trish is one of my good friends here in Georgia. She makes sure I get out of the house and go out with the girls. Lunch dates, wine tasting, just hanging out while watching sporting events, and going down the street for "happy hour," just to mention a few things. We tease that she is "Diane Sawyer" because she asks such honest and appropriate questions and can learn anything about anyone. They have 2 kids, and I do not know how they have any free time, but they always make time. I WISH I had the picture of Sean carrying Mickey on his shoulders during the ALS walk-too cute! The kids are pretty great :)

Kris and Angela-I'm not sure where to start. They live right beside us. We see them daily. If there is a storm, they make sure we are OK. They text us and come by to check on us. Kris has helped me get Jason up...I don't even think I can count on one hand the number of times he has dropped everything to come by. As seen in a previous post, Angela came up with the sunflower theme surrounding our journey with ALS. Angela and their son, Kristopher, came over just Wednesday to give me beautiful orchids for my birthday. While Jason and I came back inside to nap after the appointment today was officially canceled, they did some research to see what they could do help us in the future. Kris called a van company in Conyers to see if they installed a second battery-AAA mentioned it while he was here. They made the decision to get us what AAA used to restart the van-a Dewalt portable jump starter so that we would never be in this situation again, or be able to fix the situation quickly. Oh, and their son (well, they have 2....but the one still living at home) Kristopher is pretty awesome. We recently went to his basketball game and get to see him playing in the driveway daily. Jackson watches after him out of the front door daily. I swear he is a dog whisperer!

Robbie and Debbie-these two! Debbie brings a realistic point of view on everything-she is such a good listener and I feel like she is my own personal support group-HA! Robbie is so kind hearted-he once paid the kids hanging out during a sports game (I think UNC vs GA in football) to pick up sticks in our yard-very resourceful! They listen, they support, they are a couple that anyone would want thier relationship mimic. They are playful and fun with each other. When Robbie comes over, he immediately lies in the floor with Jax. They have watched Jax on several occasions and he loves them. Their son, Canyon, has helped us several times, whether chainsawing some downed trees, helping me unload the borrowed wheelchair after Christmas 2016, or doing some power washing to the house.

We have many more neighbors that always offer help-Tonja, Brad, Hui-tza, Jerry and Judi.....all just a phone call or knock on the door away. Jason is in none of these previous pictures----the guys just don't take pictures!

Jason, Kris, Tonja, me, Brad, Sean and Trish, Brooks in the background (used to live in the 'hood), Debbie and Robbie watching UNC vs GA football 2016

This picture is stolen and we were not there. We were still in Maine for Christmas (2015) but I LOVE IT!

Robbie, Sean, Kris, and Angela