After accepting Jim and LeeAnn’s generous offer of using their Florida condo, we started to plan our trip. We had one major obstacle to overcome which was my comfort for a 23-hour van ride (I sound like such a diva). My neck muscles have gotten weaker so I’m no longer stable in the front seat without some sort of brace. We thought of possible solutions such as flying first class because the seats recline more than coach or renting a motorhome or a handicap van, but nothing seemed to work much better than our minivan. We tried multiple pillow options while sitting in the front seat and the one that gave me the most comfort and neck support was a pregnancy pillow, but sitting with that huge pillow wrapped around me for a 23-hour car ride would not work.

On the day we were going to leave I changed my mind because we hadn’t found a good seating solution, plus my legs aren’t much help anymore which presents a whole new set of problems so I told Mark we should cancel our trip. It’s funny because Mark is usually the cautious one but this time it was me. Mark called Bryan first to break the news because he was our co-pilot on the trip. Bryan seemed to take the news just fine. Mark then called Kelly and LeeAnn who sounded disappointed but understood. About thirty minutes later Kelly came over to see why I changed my mind and right away she pointed out the positive reasons why we should go on this trip. She left and minutes later Bryan called with lots of passion in his voice reciting all of the positives of this trip but then he said something really important that helped me change my mind. Bryan said, “I’m confident we can find a solution to every obstacle we face on this trip. Dad and I are willing to dedicate our whole trip to trying to make you comfortable and if we can’t, we’ll turn back and go home.” Bryan was right. There usually is a solution to most of our problems if we are willing to open our minds and get creative. How could I say no to Bryan’s pep talk? He was right so I decided to go.