While filling out the census information just a couple of days ago, it finally became obvious to me that Tom and I have been together for 10 years now.

Most of you are probably looking a little confused at that sentence. Most people have anniversaries that are set on a certain date.

Tom and I are different.

This is not new information to me, or to a lot of people that were around us in our ‘early days’.

If we’re counting from when the actual wording was said out loud that we had decided we were truly a couple, it was shortly after the accident.

Before then, we were okay with being together without labeling it.

Ten years ago, though, when the census taker came to the door at our apartment at the barn, it became a part of the United States official history that we were living together. And, just a couple days ago, that information was concreted into history again.

Ten years? That’s a lot of years.

Especially since we’ve been post-accident for six and a half of those.

I’ve come to realize that Tom and I must be a special breed. A lot of people seem absolutely astonished that any relationship could last after such a life altering incident.

But, it never really crossed my mind to leave.

It only made us closer.

Here’s to us, Tom. We’ve made it ten years strong.

And, here’s to us filling out more censuses together in the future!

I’m making an effort to work with Georgia every day.  We don’t necessarily hit each command we’re striving to master.

Although Georgia appears to be recognizing her name better, I’m still not seeing the recognition I was expecting – turning her head, perking her ears.  Perhaps this will come with time, although I guess it doesn’t matter as long as she’s following her commands.

We’ve mastered ’sit’ from everyone who asks her.  Somewhere she’s learned ’stay’ as long as you point at her and make sure she’s given you eye contact.  ‘Stay’ works best when going in and outside.  If you’re commanding Georgia to stay in one room while you go to another, she really wants to follow you.

She follows ‘up’ when Tom says it most of the time.  She’ll even get ‘up’ on the edge of Tom’s bed with her front feet so Tom can give her some better one on one attention.

Georgia will lay ‘down’, and I can put a treat on her foot – telling her to ‘leave it’.  Rarely does she go after it until I say ‘get it’.  If she does, I just have to give her a little ‘eh eh’, and act like I’m going to block the treat with my hand.  She’ll normally leave it alone after that.  I don’t know if she truly understands ‘get it’ with the treat, or if I’ve just ended whatever game I’m playing with her… but I guess if it works, it works.  If I put the treat further away, she’s not nearly as apt to ‘get it’, although she keeps eye contact with the treat the whole time.

We’re still working on ’sit’ from a ‘down’ position, but we’ll be there soon.

She’s still not certain about ‘get it’ but seems to achieve it better with the new rope toy we bought her.  If she chooses not to take the rope toy, I can finagle it into her mouth without too much struggle.  ‘Get it’ with any other item still requires me opening her mouth and making her take the item.  ‘Release’ is no struggle with the rope toy or most anything in her mouth, except a ball.  She’ll give me the ball, but I have to get a good hold on it before she releases it.

I need to work her on the leash more… I’ve been putting it off, blaming the cool weather.  Of course, I’ll go out several times to smoke a cigarette.  I should leash her and go out front for a while.  We’ve gotten a couple different types of collars to work with, since she was accidentally slipping out of her purple one.  I’m sure one of these will be perfect.

Anyhow, Georgia is doing amazing.  Realizing that she’s only been in our home for a month is baffling.  She’s so smart.

I have confidence that, with the help of Patty of course, she’ll be exactly what Tom has been needing to gain more independence!

Tom and I were staring at our bank account the other day, wondering how to slide through until the beginning of the next month.

Like a lot of you out there, we’re definitely a paycheck to paycheck household. Sometimes we don’t quite make it from one check to the next, but we always survive.

This last time, though, Tom softly suggested, “Well, maybe I should sell my guitar.”

When he said that, I felt my heart drop.

Tom has three guitars, actually.

One he’s had for as long as I’ve been alive, literally. Its his 6 string acoustic that has been through every step of his life with him. His dad made a beautiful wooden case not too long ago so Betsy (his guitar) can proudly be displayed.

Another is a 12 string electric / acoustic. I bought Tom this one for Christmas a couple years before the accident. I think Tom pretty much freaked out when I gave it to him… and, if I do say so myself, it was a pretty awesome gift.

The third guitar is a black 6 string electric / acoustic that Tom bought himself shortly after he and I moved in together. Since he bought this one himself, he feels it is the most ‘disposable’ of the three.

“We could use the money, Sheila,” he said to me.

I shook my head no. “We’ll make it just fine till next payday. Don’t worry about it.”

“But, I can’t play it anymore. Its just taking up space.”

After a couple more exchanges similar to the ones above, I finally said, “I’m just not ready to do that.”

I can’t imagine selling Tom’s guitars. Ever, really. I know that they’re taking space. I know that he won’t be able to play them again. But, they’re memories – tangible, touchable memories. I can’t imagine just selling them to some stranger or something like that… Who knows how they would treat them!

I know this may not be completely logical to some people.

I mean, I understand its only a guitar.

But, its Tom’s guitar.

And, its meant to be Tom’s guitar.

And, I’m not ready to be done with it yet.

Needless to say, I ended that discussion promptly.

The guitar will not be sold yet.

Because I’m not ready.

I think Tom is actually relieved that I’m not ready.

I could tell he wasn’t really ready either.

As you all noticed, the van arrived Tuesday evening, just as the sun was going down.  We couldn’t check it out completely in the dark, but definitely loaded Tom into it without breaking a sweat and played with all the buttons, knobs, bells and whistles.

Yesterday, we all loaded up in the van, nearly giddy as a child on Christmas morning, to go for our maiden voyage.  We locked Tom’s chair down and buckled up for safety, and headed on our way — with the boys watching TV the whole way!  (Can’t miss the news, ya know… although I don’t know why.)

First we stopped by Tom’s mom’s craft store where we all did a happy dance together since … well, we were all damned happy.  Duh.  Tom went inside his mom’s shop, which he hadn’t visited since he’d been hurt.  He talked to some of his mom’s customers and just generally hung out for a little while.

Then, we loaded up and headed to my mom’s work and grabbed some lunch.  We didn’t unload there, but everyone came out to check out the van and actually meet Tom.  Most of the employees there haven’t had the chance to actually see Tom before, so it was nice for them all to be able to put faces to names.

After lunch, we stopped by Tom’s sister’s work and made her come outside to see the van also.  She harrassed Tom fairly for not coming in to see her office, but I think Tom was a little sore from being up in his chair and didn’t really feel like moving around too much.

The last stop was going over to my sister’s house where I begged Tom to get out of the van to see about widening the door from their garage to their basement – since that would be Tom’s only point of entry into her house.  Tom made it through the door with no issues, so Angie doesn’t have to go through the trouble of getting her door widened… which makes all of us happy!!

We had called Tom’s dad after leaving Angie’s to see if he wanted to see the van also.  But he and his wife were passing some kind of sickness back and forth to each other, so we all decided that seeing the van could wait until another day.  And, although Tom would happily gone to see his Dad, I think he was probably a little relieved.

This van is 230981408 million times better than our old van.  But, Tom hasn’t been up in his chair much lately because… well… there just hadn’t really been a need to get up with the weather sucking so much and there not being any place to go.  So, Tom was a little sore from all the activities.  It sure didn’t erase the ‘kid in a candy store’ smile from his face.  But, he fell asleep as soon as his head hit his pillows, which shows how exhausted he truly was.

We’ve never made so many stops in one day since Tom’s been hurt.  The old van was not a smooth ride what so ever, which made travel painful for Tom.  We only reserved traveling for necessary things, or when Tom was absolutely going out of his mind from being stuck on our property.

Now, I can see lots of outtings in our future.  Its very very exciting.

Maybe we’ll go to the museum.  Tom wants to go to the new Bass Pro shop a couple towns over.  We haven’t seen a movie in the theaters since Tom’s been hurt… Tom hasn’t gone grocery shopping with me since the accident either.  Heck, maybe we’ll go visit our friends about an hour south of here.

As you can see, weather permitting, I think we may not be around the house a lot here soon.  Spring can’t come soon enough!!

I’m sorry that I didn’t post this news right away, but I’ve been busy sorting out details. That, and before I mentioned it, I wanted to make sure it was truly possible.

I am jumping the gun a little bit, but I believe this just might work out.

We’re getting a better van!

It was all very unintentional, and still slightly unbelievable.

Remember a couple posts back when I mentioned finding a van that we believe will suite Tom’s needs perfectly?  And, how I said that I was applying for their financing with little real hope of qualifying for the full amount?

Well, I didn’t qualify for the full amount of the van.

The financing company accepted my application, and is allowing the loan to be paid off over 84 months.  I wasn’t able to make the cut for the full amount the van was listed for, so the company dropped the price $3000 to help out.

I’m freaked out.  I mean, we’ll be able to afford the payment.  But, we’ll be watching our budget very very carefully for a long time.  Loooooong time.

And, of course, I have to figure out how to pay for the licensing, the sales tax, and the inspection.

So, we’re not out of the woods yet.

But, hopefully, by the end of this month, we’ll have the van in our custody and will be continuing to make positive steps to keep and maintain the van.

I will be keeping the ChipIn for the van on the page.  If anyone has any spare change they want to throw in the jar, we’d appreciate it.  Every penny donated to our ChipIn fund will go towards paying off the long running loan.

Wanna see the van?  You can access the company’s page by clicking here.  I don’t know how long they’ll keep our van listed there.  But, hopefully by the time they take their photos of the van down, we’ll have our own photos to share!

I’d like to know who in their right mind decided to get my whole household sick at the same time.  Because, being sick is no fun… but having everyone sick at the same time is just down right unenjoyable.

I am feeling better, but definitely not 100% yet.

For some reason, my sinsuses that have been leaking like a public works water line have completely dried up.  Which, sounds like it would be great.  Except, I’m extremely dry now.  Like, the back of my throat is dry… my eyes are dry…

And, no, I’ve not taken any medication in attempts to create this interesting dilemma.

I’ve been sucking down fluids like they’re going out of style because of this dryness with no major changes.  Intriguing, I must say.

Of course, whenever Tom gets sick, it has to end up being 340923 million times worse then when I’m sick.  So, we spent most of the night battling his illness.

I do feel like we may be on the upswing now.

Gosh, I sure hope so.

I could use some decent sleep.

I got a phone call tonight at about 8:30 from a number I didn’t know.  But, considering the number was shown on my caller ID, instead of being an anonymous call, I decided to answer.

The woman on the other side of the phone asks, “Is this the *insert Tom’s last name here* residence?”

Weird.

My name is on everything regarding anything, pretty much.  So, someone calling and using Tom’s last name is really odd.

So, I cautiously answer with a yes.

To which she replies, “Tom *insert Tom’s last name here*?”

Now I’m super weirded out.  I start to wonder who is stalking Tom…

Again, I reply with a drawn out, “Yeeeeees?”

Then, it all becomes clear as mud, “Hi.  A package was dropped off at our house today, but it has Tom’s name and address on it.”

“Oh?  Really?  That’s odd.”

“Yes, it is.  Especially since we live at 30___ instead of 31___.”

Huh.  The UPS driver couldn’t find the right address on the street, so he just randomly dropped it off at a neighbors house?  Strange policy.

Turns out she lives on *my street name* STREET, and I live on *my street name* DRIVE.  But, still, she lives two doors down from the number on the package.

I’m a little dumb struck.  “How’d you get our number?  This phone is listed under my last name, not his.”

The nice lady replies, “Well, dear, your phone number is on the package.”

Duh.  Eye R Smrt.

So, I ask the lady if I can run over to her house and pick up the package.  She seems almost thankful and gives me directions to her house, which, by the way, is not really near my house.  I mean, its less than 5 minutes away, I’d say.  But, we’re definitely not in the same neighborhood.

When I arrive at her house, I thank her tremendously for deciding to call and get this all worked out.  Then I laugh, “I suppose you probably have lots of people trying to find my house on your street, huh?”

If she had only known of the large parties we’ve had here, and how many people have said that they’ve taken her street instead of mine!  I’m sure, though, from now on she’ll be watching the people turning around in her driveway and thinking, “I bet they’re trying to find that Tom guy’s house.”

The package?  A surprise gift for Tom from a dear dear friend.