Big Plans For The Day

This was supposed to be a good day. Actually I’ve been looking forward to this day for a while. Funny how just when you think things are going fine and you’ve got everything under control, that’s when life will pick you up, whip you around and land you so drastically off course that you’re not sure how you’ll find your way again.

I woke up at 6am on Friday nervous and excited about the busy day I was about to begin.

I had planned to get in to the office first thing as I had a busy day scheduled and lots to get done. Then later I had lined up an amazing interview with an incredible lady I had met at the Foodbank who’s story about being a single mom of two and getting by on less than $200 per month was really inspiring. I thought it would be really important to not just discuss my own difficulties with living a meager lifestyle but also to investigate the struggles and challenges of those who live this life every day.

Finally I was supposed to bike down to the Q103 radio station to do an interview with Brad Smart as he had read my blog and thought it would be fun to have me on his show to discuss my crazy 12 months of challenges.

I had just finished pouring my morning coffee when my phone rang. ‘Who would be calling me at this hour?’ I thought. I checked the caller ID and noticed it was my brother Sean who lived down in Vancouver.

I knew right away something had to be wrong… I picked up and Sean explained the reason for the urgent morning call.

Life Shaking Phone Call

“I’ve got bad news.” He said with a serious tone in his voice. “Dad had a heart attack.”

My heart sank into my stomach as the reality of his words hit me like a sack of bricks. “Oh my God, is he okay?!” I asked instinctively.

“Ya I think so, as far as I know he’s stable and they’re taking him to the hospital now. I’m on my way there now too.”

A million things rushed through my brain. ‘When was the last time we spoke? (too long ago). What did I say to him? (nothing important). What if he dies? (don’t think about that..).’

My brother told me he would keep me updated and call me back in a while. He hung up and I was left there staring at my phone not knowing what to do next.

I replayed the brief conversation in my head. ‘He said he was okay right? Yes, yes he said he was okay. What the hell happened!?’

I knew he had had some recent heart problems but after his artery stent operation 6 months ago he had been feeling much better. What had happened now?

It wasn’t long until my Mom called me. She lived in Kelowna and had obviously just received a call from my brother as well. She was trying her hardest to sound strong so I wouldn’t worry but I could tell she was just as upset as me. “Don’t worry; Dad is tough and he’ll be just fine. All the same though I think we should go down to the coast to visit him. Once he gets done with the doctors he’ll want some friendly faces to be there to cheer him up.” she said.

Without pausing even a moment I was telling my mom I was in. “Yes of course, when do you want to go?” I asked.

We agreed to wait until we found out what was happening first but most likely we’d leave first thing in the morning.

The rest of my morning I felt like I was in a trance. Before I knew it I was at work and struggling to focus on getting some of my work done. My phone rang again and again I heard my brother’s voice.

“Dad’s okay, everything’s fine.” he said. “He had a mild heart attack but the doctors think he’ll be okay. Basically they said it was an artery spasm brought on by stress and the nicotine from his smoking. They’re going to keep him for a while to do some tests so I’ll keep you updated.”

‘Wow…um well at least he’s okay.’ I thought to myself as I thanked my brother and hung up the phone.

A wave of relief washed over me as I slowly de-stressed. Progressively I came back down to reality and refocused myself on my present state.

A Crisis of Conscience

Shortly after I got another call from my Mom obviously having gotten the same update. She was also relived but still firmly committed to traveling down to see him. Then the other shoe dropped. “Oh but how are you going to afford to come down on your budget?” she asked expecting me to have a quick answer.

I had completely forgotten. The blog, the challenges, the budget, all of it had disappeared entirely from memory until that moment.

“Oh, um, I don’t know?” I replied seeming dazed as if I had just been knocked over the head.

I thought about it for a minute. Obviously if my Dad was in dire straits I would drop everything and rush to him in seconds. Now knowing he was out of immediate danger was it still important that I keep my budget?

Earlier in the week when I was emailing with the girl I had met at the Foodbank she had mentioned something to me that really stood out. She had read some of my blog and had thought of a suggestion for me to make things more interesting. “You should have an unexpected life disaster.” she said. “That will make your challenge more realistic. It never fails that just when I’ve got everything under control something in my life will blow up and somehow I’ll have to make it all work. You should add that to your blog”

At the time I didn’t really think much of it. In fact when I emailed her back I thanked her for the suggestion but told her that I didn’t want to ‘plan’ an unexpected life disaster as I figured life would most likely deliver one for me on its own. Little did I know it would be this…

I thought about what she had said and how hard it must be when things went wrong in her life. She didn’t have the option to just hit pause on her life and escape to do what she wanted when she needed to. If something bad happened to her family or friends she wouldn’t have the money or ability to just leave. Was it fair that I did? Was I really committing to this challenge if the first time it got really hard I just quit?

No, I had to stick it out and stay true to my budget. But how the hell was I going to make it work…?

Unfortunately I had just gone to Costco a couple of days ago to pick up a few more items. This had brought me up to exactly $220 spent leaving me only $30 left for my remaining month.

I did a quick calculation: If my mom and I split the gas and drove down to Vancouver together and I packed all of my meals ahead of time then we would only need to spend $60 on one tank of gas to get there and back.

So it was doable but that was everything I had for the entire month. I considered any alternatives but under the circumstances I figured that was my best option.

Okay it was on; I would just have to really stretch every last meal I had purchased because now I really had zero room for error…

Life Wasn’t Done Throwing Me Around

The rest of my morning went by rapidly as I thought about my Dad and strategized how I was going to make visiting him work.

Before I knew it I was headed over to the Foodbank to do my interview. I was in and out pretty quickly and I left with an incredible sense of positivity, perspective and inspiration (her story will be following shortly).

With my new found energy for life I began my 25 minute bike ride across town to the radio station where I had my interview. In total I figured I would only be gone for about an hour since the interview was only supposed to be 2 ½ minutes.

As I was pedaling along I noticed the sun had come out and I couldn’t help but think how lucky I was. Sure this morning’s scare with my dad had really shaken me but it also made me realize how fortunate I was to still have him in my life and despite some personal setbacks how great my life was too.

Then in an instance my life again was flipped upside down…only this time more literally.

I felt a strong jolt from beneath my bike. Within a second my back wheel stopped dead and I was sent tumbling over the top of my handlebars. Luckily I partially caught myself as I went flying from the bike and I managed to only do a small roll onto the hard pavement below.

“What the hell was that!?” I screamed as I got up and dusted myself off.

I went over to inspect my bike. I picked it up off the middle of the street and tried to wheel it off the road. It wouldn’t budge.

I looked it over and noticed the back chain/gear section (what I now know to be the ‘derailer’) had basically folded in on itself and wedged in between the spokes so the tire couldn’t spin.

All of my positive energy disappeared in an instance and I back was the stress and frustration. ‘This day could not get any worse.’ I thought to myself as I scrambled to figure out what to do next.

I was supposed to be on the radio in 25 minutes and I was only just over half way to the station. Panic started to set in…

Then it struck me, there was a bike shop about 6 blocks from where I was. I figured if I could make it to the bike shop maybe they could fix me up quick and I could still make the interview. I picked up the bike and through it on my back. With the saddle bags on it was far heavier than I had anticipated but I got a good grip and I started to run.

My Own Iron Man Race

After about 10 minutes of exhausting bike packing I flopped through the front door of Kelowna Cycle. I looked around and everyone seemed to be busy. Not having time to wait I exclaimed “I’ve got a biking emergency!”

A clerk looked up from his paperwork and came over to check to see if I was okay. His name was Scott.

Amongst panting breaths of air I quickly explained to Scott my situation. I told him about my bike crash, my budget challenge and my interview in 15 minutes. He looked stunned but mostly confused. He told me he’d watch my bike and get one of the techs to quote me on a cheap repair. He then asked me how the hell I was going to make it the 2.5kms to the radio station in 15 minutes?

I looked him straight in the eyes and told him the only way I knew I had left. “I’m going to run.” And with that I grabbed my note book and took off out of the bike shop.

Fortunately I was wearing my runners from riding the bike, unfortunately I was wearing my dress pants and a sweater over my dress shirt so I was not in a great condition to run.

As I ran I called Brad to explain to him what had happened to me. Within seconds I had Brad lying on the floor in tears laughing at my biking and budgeting misfortune.

“Just get here and we’ll do the spot live as soon as you get to the studio. I don’t want to miss any of this.” he exclaimed.

By the time I got to the studio I was exhausted; I was overheating in my dress clothes, I was out of breath and I was sweating profusely. Within minutes I was on the air and doing my best to sound coherent and comprehensible.

It was over in a moment and I wasn’t really sure what I had said. Brad congratulated me and assured me it was radio gold.

I had survived my interview and hopefully not sounded too much like a mumbling fool. Now I just needed to walk back and get my bike and get home.

Unfortunately when I picked it up the quote was about the same as my entire months budget, fortunately it wasn’t my bike and my friend Drew (who’s dog and cat Brittney and I had been house sitting for the last two weeks) was getting back on Saturday so this was now his problem (sorry Drew (it wasn’t my fault)).

I got myself back home and collapsed on the couch. I had survived easily the worst day of my budget month and had the bumps and bruises to prove it. Now I just had to survive a $30 trip to the coast to see my Dad and somehow get through the rest of my month alive. At least I knew it couldn’t get any worse…or at least I hoped anyways.

Here is my interview with Brad Smart @ Q103.

Thanks again to Scott and all the guys @ Kelowna Cycle.

Oh and we made it to the coast in one piece: