Ink in the Wheels: Stories to Make Love Roll is out in the world! We were just overwhelmed by the support of our book release on February 8th. Truly, we are so humbled and honored that our family and friends celebrated with us- it was an evening we will never forget!! Read about our release event here!
The week following, we still had family in town, we were thrilled with an interview on The Breaking Free Show, and we spoke to several groups during the week.
Yet in the middle of all of our celebrations, the Engine Light came on in my little ’99 Honda Civic. Overall, my car has done so well with over 246,000 miles on it. But when it does need repair, it happens at the most inopportune times. The week we signed the mortgage for our house- $1,00 repair, the weekend we lost one of our dogs- $800 repair, just as we were rebuilding the foundation to the house- $900 repair. We knew with the high mileage that my car was only going to last another year or two. Still, we didn’t know how to begin the conversation about how to finance an accessible van.
Our goal professionally with the book is to positively impact individuals and families with and without disabilities, and we couldn’t be more excited that we are indeed reaching others and inviting them to share their own stories, inspiring others to reach beyond what they thought was possible, and bringing a new voice to the community.
And- our personal goals for the book, which are no secret, to purchase an accessible van and start the process for home study/adoption.
And this week we found that my little car needs more repairs than we could have expected. And so now we have a choice. We could drain all of our funds into repairs, or we can accept the inevitable and look toward an accessible van.
In our book, we become so vulnerable and open ourselves up to share our story and experiences. And so here, too, we won’t sugar coat it. Realizing that we must now make a decision with transportation- there is nothing we can do. The feeling of this news is like someone has ripped my skin off. I found myself in tears for several days, but it was not out of complete devastation. It was out of relief.
This is one of the biggest barriers to our ultimate goals of a national book tour (getting our book out into the world) and one of Barton’s goals in order to expand our family (creating an environment where Barton can be fully independent, wherever we go). And now, there is a van standing in the middle of the road.
And now, we must come face to face with it.
There is an opportunity to face one of our biggest challenges, and we can do it kicking or screaming, or we can move forward slowly with what we have, one step at a time, using a variety of strategies that will include the humbleness of asking for help and the hard work of reorganizing other plans to make sure we can be successful.
Honestly, we don’t know how we will get there. We have seven months (until my car needs an inspection) to figure out the details, namely the green dollar bills.
And while we are facing our elephant in the room, we will continue on our journey this year of planning a local, state-wide and national speaking engagement tour, coaching individuals and families, speaking to organizations, sharing our story as openly as we can, both the successes and failures. The joys and the challenges of our lives. We have seen how important this story is, as it has connected us with others in ways we could have not imagined. And so we will continue on because this vision is so vital.
With the van, we don’t know the how, but we know we will. And we will- together, just like we always have. And for now, that is all that matters.
~ Megan