New Lungs, old bus…

Sooo… I’ve not updated this blog for a couple months now. Not because anything has gone wrong (Thank the Lord). Nor because I’ve lost interest in it. But mainly because I didn’t want to feel like I was repeating myself.

I am truly thankful to everyone involved with saving my life along with all those continuing to keep me alive. But I figure blogging about that over and over has got to eventually get boring to any one ready this.

Maybe not… I mean I’m weird. I know pretty much zero in regards to what I am doing on here and can be pretty dense when it comes to understanding what others like, but all the same. I think a story needs a little more to it.

Not that my life story hasn’t been interesting enough up to this point, but yeah… We have to live through the boring bits of our own lives. Who wants to grind their way through boring chapters of someone else’s?

All this rambling is basically to say…

Well…

I bought a bus.

Okay… here me out (read me out?) The docs didn’t cross any wiring while they were in there replacing parts. All though, if they did how would I know?

Anyway, there is a lot of this beautiful world right here in my own country that I’ve never seen. I’ve been to lots of places East of the Mississippi, but never West of it.

I’ve lived my life like most people. With the same thoughts I’ve heard countless other express, “Eventually Id like too…” “One of these days…” “When I retire…” “I’ll get to it tomorrow.”

And there is nothing wrong with planning for the future. (In fact I think there are lots of people that need to do a little more planning and saving.) But we shouldn’t put off living until tomorrow.

Because we’re not promised tomorrow. In fact tomorrow never comes. All we have is today.

While I was in the hospital the way I past most of my time… okay the way I past the time that wasn’t already taken up with being poked and prodded or scanned or exercised or talking bout geeky stuff with that one really cute nurse… er I mean having intelligent conversation with… uh…

What was I rambling about? Oh yeah sorry… I spent most of my free time in the hospital daydreaming and planning the “ultimate” month long road trip.

The first year after transplant the doctors ask that you stay within a 4hr distance from the hospital. Basically so if something goes wrong you can hightail it back lickity split.

Needless to say this year long wait has only increased my desire to get on the open road. And as I’ve continued to research and plan, several things have become pretty clear.

1.  The cost of renting a car and shelter is going to get pretty expensive pretty quick.
2.  A month isn’t going to be nearly long enough.
3.  Remodeling a bus into a skoolie looks both rewarding an freaking awesome.

So I began looking at school buses and found this beautiful ride not far from me. Which is amazing, because let me tell you there are lots of buses for sale out there. All different sizes, shapes, and prices. And all the ones I deemed worth looking at before her, not within 100 miles of me.

It was love at first test drive. But I didn’t rush in. I slept on it. Twice.

And as you can see I still felt the same afterwards. Because she is now sitting there patiently for me to polish her up so we can go adventuring.

I don’t know how this will go. How far I’ll get or what I will experience, before my stories over. But at least in this moment I’m enjoying rendering her in 3D and planning what she’ll be as I clean her up and start working on her.

Hopefully the I.P.F awareness images I plan to decorate her with will help inform others of this terrible illness. And hopefully my journey will inspire some of my fellow IPF/transplant patients to not give up.

We may not know about tomorrow, but we still have today and this moment. Keep living until that last breath.

Adventure is out there! – Ellie (Pixar’s up)