Day in the Lyfe of Aaron: Part 5
Sunday Afternoon Awakening
Ah sleep, it’s now.... Sunday afternoon? I guess I burnt the candle too much at both ends. I roll over and see I have a message on my phone, I replied back, been sleeping uninterrupted. When it comes to being social and phones, I always opt for being social. I always put my phone on silent and I never take it out unless it blows up due to work. So, when I got to the Mel the night before and I was done sending all my texts. I put my phone on vibrate, or in this evening silent by accident.
It is really easy to disconnect like this when there is no family, children or significant other requiring your attention. I don’t remember doing this and my phone stay pretty quiet on the weekends unless I have something going on. Some weekends I have so little going on I have no need to even pick up my phone. This may be the Gen X in me still wishing for the days when the only people that had a cell phones where lawyers and drug dealers. I see too many people’s live dictated and distracted by this technology that was supposed to enhance our lives.
Sunday Afternoon Errands
I had to run a friend to go pick up a U-Haul truck that afternoon and I needed to get awake regardless of what my body felt like. The arduous days prior, the lack of sleep, the accidental fasting and my night cap of beta blockers were all still lingering. This was a rough start to a late start of the day. I was still hungry not much in ways of food in the house as I had not completed my adulting task of grocery shopping for the week. Damn, I wish there were tacos!
With my friend in-tow heading across town to pick up this moving truck. I must stop and get some food. Passing by a local brewery we decide to turn around and try it. Their beer has always been great, but I have not tried any of their food before and since I have not eaten much, or anything good. This seems like a good idea. After taking some photos of said culinary delights I decide to pull out my phone for a minute and see what has transpired in the world since I went on an Aaron adventure. Time to catch back up. As I scrolled through Facebook, I see this post from my friend Rodney’s partner on Saturday.
Concerning News About a Dear Friend
“Rodney is in the hospital. He went down while working parking at the Harley dealership. He had no pulse. They shocked him and got a wave back. I’m here at the hospital waiting to hear something.”
Shit, this is not good!
Looking Back to Look Forward
Now at this point I am going to rewind you all back to the first blog post and why I did a chronological series about this string of days.
Remember when I was going to go on a hike?
Remember when I said I was getting new camera gear?
Remember when I said I was going to do an interview?
Remember when I said I was going on a trip soon to Tennessee?
Remember that short YouTube trailer I put together?
A Developing Idea to Help Rodney
Earlier this year we almost lost Rodney to some major heart problems. They couldn’t perform a bypass and he was left with only 2 options, one which was to receive a heart transplant. The other you can figure out on your own. Sometime in early July Rodney and I were discussing the dilemma that he was in. We were trying to figure out how a medically retired ER nurse that has subsidized state insurance was going to come up with funding. This lack of funding was literally a roadblock on him being able to get on the transplant list.
We kicked all sorts of ideas around. I consulted my beard club on ideas. We came up with the idea that starting a GoFundMe would be a good start. But I knew this wouldn’t be enough just sharing around on Facebook.
Putting the Pieces Together
I did what I did best, I sat back, and I thought about it and thought about it. I have several friends that have sizable YouTube channels. Over the years they have asked me why I have not given it a go. Honestly, I have not felt like there was anything creative enough for me to go and hit the record button. There is plenty of channels that just say the same things, do the same things over and over. If I was going to do it, it would have to be unique enough, creative enough for me to put in the effort.
Finally, my hyper analytical side of my brain met up with my creative side and they laid out an idea of what would become next. The inspiration was there, the foundation was laid and all I had to do was figure out how to put it together now. I was going to use YouTube to get this story documented and push it out to a greater audience.
The hike I was supposed to go on was mostly to hang with a good friend. But I wanted to use that as a boiler plate to practice interviewing another person face to face. The gimbal for the action camera was to help me get some B-Roll and act as a secondary camera when needed. The camera upgrade was needed regardless but I also needed something more that a photography camera this time. The Nikon Z8 was the Swiss army knife I needed for this project.
An Unexpected Turn of Events
I was supposed to got down south in a week from now for various reasons. Help someone stand up their social media, content creation, and give some basics in food photography and editing. I was going to incorporate Rodney into this trip, it was overdue for some porch time with my friend. My plans were to sit him down and tell me his story. Explain the financial issues holding him back from trying to live just a little longer. When I say this, the world will definitely be a much less brighter place without him in it. My goal was to help try and stave that off.
I spent the last two months retooling myself, learning everything I needed to make this happen minus some rusty videography skills. I had barely left the house too. Toiling by day with my career and then spending long nights putting this all together. Saving every dime possible to fund these new expenditures and then this Sunday happened.
Somehow over the weekend I had inadvertently burnt a bridge while trying to make all this happen this weekend. Then again if a bridge that easily burnt it probably would not have stood long not ablaze anyways?
Last update posted about Rodney was...
“He’s doing and looks a lot better. Some of his facial swelling has gone down. It was probably from an allergic reaction to penicillin. He was sedated all day today. He should be able to speak tomorrow. He’s been intubated. He is still on dialysis.”
Making Connections and Raising Awareness
So now I don’t know where I am at. Rodney’s story is on hold for the moment. But I can use this as a platform to connect the dots of this past weekend and raise some awareness about this cause. While I don’t think this blog will reach a lot of people, maybe the few who might read this may help this get out further. I didn’t want to write about this in such length or encompassing so many days of a crazy weekend. But I felt it important to pull back the curtain some and help connect some dots.
Below is Rodny’’s GoFundMe page. If you feel this is a worthy cause like myself, please share and/or donate. I don’t have a lot of family in my life so my friends that are close to me are my family. So now I fight for them as if they were my family.
