W - Wheelchair - (Adam)

This one will be pretty short. But it is not short because I don't have much to say. It will be short because I have written about this man so many times before.

For example, our many trips to the hospital:

•  From Ferris Wheel to Hospital Waiting Room
• Abscessed Adventures with Adam WARNING: GRAPHIC!!! Adam bleeds from his groin
  
• Hop Along Sunday
• Dad, Do You Ever Get That No-So-Fresh Feeling? - Male Yeast Infections
• Getting Tired of Hospitals 

Our DJ shows

• I need More Hours in the Day

Our Outing Adventures

• Fortune Cookie #2
• DT or Not DT

The apology post he made me write because every time I ever wrote about him it was to make fun of him.

• I am a Person and Other Complaints

When we first met, Adam was a smart-mouthed teenager about 10 years younger than me. We had a few mutual acquaintances and crossed paths now and then. At some point, he disappeared. I honestly didn't notice. He was a friend of a friend. However, many years later, I ran into him again. He still had that smart mouth, but he moved significantly slower. Probably due to the loss of his feet and not being very good with his new wheelchair yet.

Adam had been through a lot since the last time I saw him and I love a good story. So, we had lunch so I could hear it.

I can't remember how it happened, but over the course of the next year we became close friends and I even became his disability-paid caregiver. I employed him in the tattoo shop I owned to greet customers when they walked in the door and set appointments. We started spending a lot of time together and really enjoyed each other's company.

Due to Adam's new medical issues, I ended up running him to the emergency room several times. It made for great blog fodder (see links above). He even got to return the favor once when I had an emergency and couldn't move one side of my body. By then, he had almost learned how to drive without feet and I really didn't have much of a choice.

Adam eventually started a DJ business because it was something he could do while seated. AND he was good at it. He really knew how to get a crowd worked up. However, he was not able to do all the setup and tear down of the heavy speakers and equipment. That part fell to me. It didn't pay well, but I got invited to every wedding in town and drank for free.

We made a lot of noise everywhere we went and annoyed everyone garnered a lot of attention. We spent a few years just laughing at each other's stupid jokes.

Eventually, we each left Illinois. I met a girl and moved to Indiana. He met a girl and moved to Missouri. Since then, we have each married those girls (he knocked his up - TWICE!) and I have even moved out of the country. So, we don't see each other as much as we would like anymore, but we do pretty good to stay in touch. He even called me the other day just to discuss the most recent Game of Thrones episode. I hadn't watched it yet, so I hung up on him. But he meant well.

Adam, I miss you, buddy.

August 5, 2017

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This month, I am participating in the A to Z Challenge. Each day this month, people around the world are writing blog posts and working their way through the alphabet. Each person decides their own personal theme. I am writing about people who have affected my life.