"I Need a Van"

First comes the apology for the late updating on this page. As of this writing, it's been over two weeks since I updated the page. There are a few reasons for that, but the most important one of all is the one you'll really want to hear.

I've got it.

I have been in Southern California, and just returned. I was there because of a pretty rushed series of events. I wish I'd have had time to update things before I left, but things were really insane making all this happen. And what happened is that I went down to Van Nuys to meet with the guys at Driving Systems Inc. To get the van.

And again...I've got it.

For the full details of the adventure, you'll have to check the blog, which I'll try to start filling up with info as time allows. But as you might have heard here or heard on one of the TV broadcasts, there was a time limit on this thing. The van wasn't going to be there forever, and I just plain had to have it. If for no other reason than driving the old one in Sacramento in the middle of the heat wave we're currently having in California (and who ISN'T having a heat wave right now?) with no A/C and windows that don't come down would have been bordering frightfully close to suicidal. As of today's news reports, 24 people have died from the heat in the Sacramento area alone, mostly the elderly and people with health issues (me? Health issues? Noooo...). It's been up to 113 around here. The old van was just so quickly becoming a non-option. And with that, and the time limit issue, it wasn't a question of whether I'd get this new van. I had to. And I just had to proceed on the belief that, one way or the other, I was going to get it.

I mentioned that I've got it, right? :)

The fundraiser through this page and on local media has been nothing short of amazing, especially after Channel 3 kicked in on July 7th and did their story, which provided a much-needed and spectacular boost in the total. The money was still coming in, but wasn't going to be enough to reach the total. I needed to get to the final figure quickly to make it all come together, which would mean finding a way to borrow it, somehow, and quickly.

And then came Grandma.

My grandmother came forward with the most beautiful and generous offer. She would loan me the money I was short on. I can't begin to express what a wonderful woman she is, and how this is just an extension of the love I've gotten from her for the whole of my life. She, too, knew that this had to happen, and as she told me, she wanted this for me. And so she made it come true for me. With her unbelievable intervention, with the last-minute generosity of folks like Leni and Bob and Audrey (more on them in the blog...), with the faith and determination of Mom and Jack (that's Jack who, lest we forget, made this all happen in the first place by making the call and finding the van), and with the kind and giving spirits of everyone who's found this page and made the choice to lend a hand, I am now back home in Sacramento, driving the van you've been reading about all this time.

I can't properly begin to explain what it's been like even for this short time. As I've told other people in the brief time I've been home, I didn't fully understand how bad I had it until I got into this van. You have to kind of be me to really get what a difference this is already making. It may sound like a fairly simple thing to you, but to be able to just go out in the morning (like I did this morning, my first day back at work in over two weeks) and bring the wheelchair lift down...without having to struggle with the inconvenience of getting the driver door open and starting the van first to be able to use the lift (and letting the engine die a couple of times before it would) is still kind of hard for me to grasp. To have the lift come down without making terrible noises and half the time jamming and getting stuck near the top. To not have to hop the chair over a lift ramp that doesn't want to come down. To not even have to TOUCH the van to bring the lift down in the first place (the new one has a remote control). And to be able to get into it, THEN start it, and not have to sit there and warm up the overly-loud engine and wake the poor neighbors whose bedroom glass door is right in front of where I park. To be able to just start it and go.

And does it ever go. Again, maybe a simple thing to you, but the ride on this thing is so smooth, with brakes that actually work right, and an accelerator I don't have to fight with like the old one, and one that doesn't make the engine die when taking off at an intersection if I'd give it too much gas. And shocks! The simple joy of shocks! They were shot on my old one, and I felt every little bump in the road, and the lift in the back would shake and rattle so loud while driving I could barely hear the radio back when the radio still worked! It is such an absolute and indescribable pleasure to drive that I find myself smiling just riding down the road. When was the last time YOU smiled on the way to work? Well I'm smiling now. And practically have tears in my eyes, truth be told. When I started this whole thing, still less than two months ago, I never could have imagined this. It is everything I had hoped for and more. And it is all mine.

And all this still makes me smile...no matter HOW in debt I am. :)

As much as my grandmother would have loved to make her contribution just a gift, not a lot of us can just hand over that kind of cash (of course, if there's anyone reading this who CAN, and you feel like handing over, I'm you're man...). It is still a loan that needs to be paid back. Yes, I have the van. I would love to have raised the whole amount, but in the time available, I got so much farther to the goal than I could have asked for. A HUGE chunk of the total got knocked off thanks to this page, and to so many of you. But there was still the rest of the way to handle, and it had to get handled. And I'm just so grateful that the means to do that came my way, again, all thanks to one of the most remarkable women you'd ever have the pleasure to meet. Much less know for your whole life.

So while I do have it, many, many people have told me to keep the page up, and keep it going, and see if there might be some way to take care of the debt involved. So, after so many requests to do so, I am. I needed a van. And I've got a van. And that's all I can really ask for. But if you're reading this, and you haven't already been a part of this, and you'd like to be, I would still definitely appreciate any help you might be willing to give to help me get my Grandma paid back as soon as possible (which I'm looking for any way to do). Up to you. This page will stay up. And we'll see what happens.

Again, please do check the blog for more detail on all this, and all the info on what happened with the SoCal adventure and the van fitting and the whole tale (and how my first time trying to drive the new van was on Mulholland Drive. If you know the street, you're probably wincing like I was). Fun stories to be told, and I'll try to get to them all as quick as possible. Them, and the whole story behind this particular van, which very much deserves to be told. And there are many thanks to be given in there, too, and they are coming. So keep checking back.

For now? Going to go to bed, get up, get in my blue-flamin' van, and go to work. With a smile on my face. Imagine that.

Thanks, everyone. Old friends, new friends, family, and total strangers, from every part of the globe you came into my life from. Thank you, and God bless you. Every last one of you.

Michael O’Connell
July 26, 2006