Good Neighbor Award

Hi! I hadn't planned on posting a blog entry before my treatment tomorrow, but I just couldn't resist sharing a brief recap of what my neighbors, the Murphys, have done to go over and above the call of neighborly duty. Way over and above!

Ever since my diagnosis, Mark Murphy has used our snowblower to clear our driveway when it snows. He also uses it clear his own driveway, so it works out well. Especially for us. And especially after we received 12 - 14 inches of snow yesterday. Unfortunately, one of the snowblower's tires broke just as he was finishing up. Oh, and I should mention that this all happened at approximately 9:00 pm last night. I should also mention that Mark and his wife Jennifer were planning to drive to Chicago at midnight to catch a plane to Belize (the Milwaukee airport was shut down yesterd and so they had to find another flight and this was the best they could do).

So yes, the situation so far is that my neighbor, who is heading out on a romantic getaway with his lovely wife, has graciously put off his packing/preparations to snowblow my driveway. Then it breaks. I expect most other men at this point would simply park the snowblower in my garage, explain that they need to finish packing for a trip, and leave feeling good about their neighborly efforts so far. Not Mark. Nor his wife, Jennifer.

Mark removed the wheel and took it home. Then Jennifer called and explained that, because Mark had fixed this wheel once before when it broke last winter, he knew just what to do. He was going to give instructions to Jennifer's father (who, along with her mother, are babysitting the three Murphy boys while Mark and Jennifer are out of town), and he would be happy to fix the snowblower for us.

And not only that, Jennifer had contacted other neighbors to help with our shoveling while Mark wasn't around to do it.

And not only that, she had arranged for someone else to take Regan and Jack to school (oh yeah, the Murphys do that for us everyday too!).

And not only that, but their nanny would be happy to watch Finn in the morning while Kelly attends a meeting and I head off to my treatment in Chicago.

How do you even begin to thank someone for such generosity? The best I can do right now is hope like crazy that Belize is warm, the drinks are cold, their flights are smooth, and that they return wholly rested and rejuvenated. Thank you, thank you, thank you Murphy's!

Jeff