"Respect those friends who find time for you in their busy schedule. But really love those friends who never see their schedule when you need them.."
Time is an issue when it comes to friends and family. Being so far away from the ones I grew up with is extremely hard. Since I have been down here I have missed birthdays, anniversaries with my Bran Muffin, revealing parties and lots more. It really is tough.
This past weekend one of my best friends in this great big world was hit by a car. I have known Jeffrey since 2007, he has the best personality, along with one of the most contagious laughs. Whatever he says just brings a smile to your face.
When I got the news of the incident, I completely shut down. Our close friends were urging us to come see him. Knowing how bad the accident was, there really was no way I was not going to come.
We experienced some crazy challenges on the way up to Michigan. One flat tire on the way out Thursday night that forced us to turn around and try this trip on Friday. We head out that morning and experienced amazing weather. Then we enter Ft. Wayne.... Oh how I hate you Ft. Wayne. Blizzard like conditions, -22 degrees. Oh how I don't miss the weather up north. 38 miles south of the Michigan border we experienced our second flat tire of the trip. Calling in a tow truck to change our spare was a two.hour.wait! Kill me now while I wait these two hours out. Ash on the other hand manned up and said (excuse my language), LETS CHANGE THAT BITCH! And change it we did. For the FIRST TIME EVER!!! Finally after 18 hours in the car we make it home!
The next day we make our way up to the hospital to see Jeff. You know how someone tells you what happened, and you kind of downplay it like "it cant be that bad, if it is, it wont look that bad." Well it was worse then I could imagine, so bad all I could do was cry. I didn't want to talk to him, I didn't want to touch him. I just wanted to close my eyes and pretend this never happened. After taking a moment to mentally chill out, I finally started speaking to him. Grabbing his hand to let him know we were there.
We came to visit him the next two days. In that time he came off the ventilator, started opening his eyes, and squeezed family and friends hands! Just complete leaps and bounds. The last day we were told to rush back to the hospital because he FINALLY woke up and was communicating with everyone!
Since I have been back Jeff has had surgery to fix his broken hip, pelvis, ankle and his C1 and C2 vertebrae. He asks to sit up and can do this for over an hour! Next they will go in to fix his broken jaw and some teeth that were damaged. After the hospital he will have to do some serious rehab and will be confined to a wheelchair for 7-12 weeks, but Jeff is one of the strongest guys I know. To friends, family and strangers always keep Jeffrey in your thoughts and prayers. And to Jeffrey, I will never see my schedule when it comes to him. :)
