a leap of faith ...

   I may have mentioned here before my lack of friends and family in White Sulphur Springs.  Throwing a dart at a map, and moving somewhere just because I can afford the rent and they let me have two cats and a dog was a wise move at the time under the circumstances.  But I hadn't planned on health issues continuing the Covid19 isolation for the first five months of the year.  Working from home = convenient and a job that moves with me, but can also be isolating in that friends made in Zoom-ish meetings usually live in other states.  A little hard to gather for a weekend BBQ, coffee on Sunday, or happy hour after work.  Especially when my happy hour now consists of uninterrupted crafting, or snuggles with one of the cats while watching TV.

  I have made one friend, Annie, at a little shop on Main Street.  I even got to hang out with her 10-year-old son, William, last weekend when she worked a 2nd job helping with a concert at the Road Hog BBQ.  But for the most part, I've become more of an introvert these last 11 years than the days when I would show up when a new neighbor was moving into my Florida townhouse complex.  Armed with toilet paper, paper towels, pizza, and cold water I would welcome them to the neighborhood and warn them that I threw parties once a month and invited everyone as an excuse to deep clean my house first.

  Yesterday after work, I had planned on going to pick up some prescriptions at Walgreens, and some groceries at Food Lion.  I hopped into my truck, started it up, threw it into gear, and eased down on the gas.  And didn't move.  Odd.  I eased a bit more on the gas and started to pull away from the curb when I felt some resistance and heard an odder sound.  I call it a wubba wubba sound.  The sound of a very flat tire.

  A very flat tire.  No car jack.  And a spare tire that doesn't look like it is even for my truck (that I have been hauling around for three years now).  At a time when all of the tire repair shops were getting ready to close for the day.

  My auto insurance has roadside assistance, and will tow my truck somewhere I can get it repaired since I'm not sure the spare will fit, but then I have to find a way to get to it once repaired.  Plus hope that they have time to fix it in one day and that it can be fixed and will not require an all-new tire.  Annie said she could give me a ride to pick it up, but I decided to also take a step out in faith because I felt this was God trying to humble me to ask for help.

  I'm not an asker.  I'm usually a giver.  A doer.  A surpriser.  Asking for help has always been hard for me.  I can spend all kinds of money on others, but have a hard time splurging on myself 95% of the time.  On top of that, ten years with an angry alcoholic/addict burnt a lot of bridges and distanced a lot of neighbors and friends everywhere we lived.  That made it hard for me to trust people and put me in an isolation box.

  But I'm at a place in my life right now where I need to have a support system.  I love Annie to pieces, but she's got a job and a son, and will not always be available to help me, especially when/if I become more ill or need to have surgeries or other treatments for cancer.

  So I posted on two Facebook community pages asking for help to get my tire fixed so I can get to my gastro specialist and MRI appointments later next week (a massively HUGE leap of faith for me).  Faith was rewarded.  One of the responses was from a neighbor directly across the street from me, whose husband will look at the tires when he gets off work today.  The other, from someone who will give me rides if needed (hello future colonoscopy!).

  Stepping out of the box is a good thing.