What about the tour?
I’ll be honest. This question has weighed heavy on Michael’s heart. He has music in his blood, in his soul. The idea of getting a 9-5 job is really kind of heartbreaking to him. I mean, he’d do it, if that is what it takes - but heartbreaking, nonetheless. Plus, he is a planner. He wants to know on day one, “What will it take?” Really, we didn’t know. The doctors didn’t know.
About day 3 in NICU, the Dr. Strand could tell he was concerned about being local and keeping regular appointments. She said, “There are a lot of things that you can do on the road. It does not have to be appointments every week. Physical therapy can be done on the road because YOU can do a lot of it. After a g-tube is placed, it is ‘plug and play’ - anyone can learn how to use it. If there is trouble any ER in the country can fix it.”
Then she sat down and looked him in the eye. She said very firmly, “Of all the kids in this NICU, I’m not worried about Fidelity. I’m not worried about her because she has 2 parents sitting right here who love her and are willing to care for her and you’ll do what it takes to make it work.”
Then we all smiled, nodded, and cried.
So, in short, we are still booking the tour. This summer was always scheduled to be a time of transition. We need to sell our house. We need to upgrade our bus. We need to redesign the show. All of those things are in the works. We can only work toward them in good faith.
Until we get settled back into full swing, we are working through this transitional phase.
- The house is listed for sale
- The bus is listed for sale
- Michael is 70% finished with the show re-design. Charity is joining him on drums, and I (Michelle) will not be included for a few months.
- July and August were scheduled with more local events that we can drive to in the van and base out of Effingham.
- We have found a newer model bus that is for sale in Indianapolis that will work for our family. As soon as our house sells, we plan on purchasing it.
- Starting after Labor Day, we are booking more distant tours. If Fidelity is in good health and we have a bus in place we will travel as a family again. If those things are not in place, we will look at extending our time of transition as need be - possibly with Michael and the 3 older girls traveling and me and the younger 4 staying home. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.