The oldest friends I have are Kevin and Shelly Archer. They’d moved into the house across the street from us back in 1995 and our kids grew up together. Once Kevin retired and moved up to the Baltimore area, our families would meet on Labor Day and Memorial Day to go camping. We did this for next ten years.
When we put out the wedding invitations, Kev and Shelly thought it was pro forma that they’d get an invite, however I called them to please join us on this momentous occasion.
It was awesome to see them both for the wedding as they’d gotten up around 3 am on Saturday, flew to Nashville for the 5pm wedding and were able to stay for the reception til about 8pm. They were tired! But they did join us for the afters party the next morning before they caught their late morning flight back to Baltimore. That was Sunday, 29 September 2019.
On Thursday, 3 October, my good friend, Kevin, was driving when he suffered a “small” stroke.
He was rushed to ICU and has made tremendous progress, however, he still has problems with balance, even with a walker. The harsh reality is that Shelly recently started a new job as an Accountant and has not accumulated any leave time to care for Kevin once he’s released.
This is where I don my cape. I’m on schedule to join them in Bel Air once Kev gets discharged to act as an extra set of hands and driver, as necessary. Why would I do this? Because it’s the Right Thing to do. Shelly cannot keep her job and assist Kev as he recovers; those are simply incompatible goals. I’m guessing I’ll be up there for, at least, two weeks and I’m planning on about six weeks but will be there for as long as I’m useful. It’s what I do.
So, this running journal will cover the journey Kev and I will take as we work through all of this.