Back to normality

Well true to form its been a few weeks and time to update again. The biggest update I can think of is that April got her permanent position at Tripler and will be making a nice chunk more than before. Plus Government benefits for the family. I think I have already touched on this subject before so I am not going to delve into details. It just means that we will be here a few years longer or as long as we can hold out. The economy here isn't really suffering like it is everywhere else. There are help wanted signs all over the place. From big retail to construction and even private businesses there isn't as much decline here. Tourism is down and that hurts but overall, Hawaii, particularly O'ahu has a long way to fall before it even comes close to the mainland. So, with that in mind, and the fact that my electronics ventures are still keeping us well paid, we're going to stay. The uncles have voiced an overwhelming opinion that they want us to put down permanent roots here. For the life of me I can't figure out why, wait, I think I just did, we regularly take strawberry banana cream cheese pies to them.....who says love can't be bought. I'd like to take a second to pick out Uncle Bob. I seem to dote on Don a lot and this time it is Uncle Bob's turn. You all remember the dog bite incident right? If not, look through the archive and find it in July of last year. Turns out that when you take a little jaunt down to the E R, you have more than just one bill. You pay the Doctor, the Hospital, the Radiology people and whoever else sees fit to bill you for some obscure service. "sir, here's the floor mopping bill to cover the cost of the pinesol, and don't forget the tic tacs you ate while here, there's an outside food fee as well." In our case the big two were the hospital and the doctor bills. These two totalled more than $1200 and coincidentally were almost identical in amount. Bob had always insisted on paying the bill, there was never any question that he claimed responsibility for the accident even though it wasn't his dog to begin with. As time went by we gave him the bill for the HEPA, the doctors bill and he said he would promptly pay it. April covered the small radiology bill and we thought we were done. You know that feeling in your gut that you get when you think you've just done or accomplished something good, but there is that pit that naggs at you like you've forgotten something. Well, that about sums it up. We kept getting collection notices in the mail saying that we hadn't paid the bill. Finally I manned up and called the agency and the less than sociable lady on the other end insisted that it had already been turned over to an agency and that it wasn't paid even in part. I was astonished. I could hardly believe that Bob hadn't paid it. But how to bring up the subject. The man has cared for our family and gone out of his way to provide for us and here I am searching my wits for a way to bring up, 'hey unc, remember that bill I gave you, ". Now as most of you are thinking, "chad, you are a mooch, you'll figure it out" I did just that. I found a way to ask him about it without damaging the relationship were are trying so hard to foster. He later produced a copy of the cashed check and all the info that was submitted to pay the bill. With renewed confidence I puffed up my chest, thanked him graciously and proceeded to completely ignore the collections notices and hounding phone calls. I had won and had the evidence to prove that prude of a lady wrong ...... *cue the stomach pit*. The notices kept right on flowing, and the calls still woke me up at 3:00 AM. Months went by, without a break in the mail chain. Finally I figured I'd put a stop to all this nonsense and I called the collections agency lady back and let her have it. This was an argument I was determined to win. I held my head high because I had evidence to back up my claim and I told her I'd fax her the info and that I had proof it was paid and that she was a moron and that her parents were cousins. Funny how ironic life is sometimes. She immediately calmed down and said politely, "Mr Foley, look at the canceled check, what's the amount?" I examined the copy that Uncle Bob had furnished for me, "$604.32," I said snubly "The WHOLE thing, made out to Hawaiians Emergency Physician Association, you cant tell me I didn't pay the ENTIRE BILL, says right here you cashed it..." She stopped me. "Sir, this bill is for $631.73 and is for Castle Medical Emergency Facility..." "...." "....." I went cold.... utter defeat. "...." the phone was silent for what seemed hours even though it wasn't more than a couple of seconds. The pit had just grown like one of those preshrunk fabric toys you put in water and watch it turn from a cheaply imitated tiger shape to a beach towel. "Oh," was the best thing I could come up with. I had just fallen victim to her hail Mary play and whether I liked it or not, she was right. The two bills were entirely separate. "I'll look over my records and get back to you." I told the lady, with complete sincerity and manners she replied " You do that sir." As I pushed the button on the receiver and anticipated the subtle beep that corresponded to the phone disconnecting, horror set in. I had to tell Uncle Bob. The man had already shilled out almost $700 for us, Joanna had gone with us to the hospital that day and waited there for hours till April was released. They had done so much for us in the months that followed and reality was, we couldn't pay this bill. April hasn't started her new job yet and the credit bureaus had already come calling. I tried to tell April the best way I knew how. I sat her down and calmy and irrationally told her that she had to confront Uncle Bob again, almost 8 months later and ask him for another $600+. Now most of you know April, she doesn't do confontation, and she uses this knowledge as a tactic to get out of it. But I was determined that this was her leg and her uncle and that no matter how I was tied to the situation....yeah right..... she told me flat our that either I would make the effort or we would just scuttle the ship and go down right then and there. We are at the breaking point of making it or breaking it so with a complete lack of confidence I did what anyone else would do. I tucked my tail between my legs and tried to ignore the situation further. That was the end of January. February came and with absolutely no sense of reassurance, I knew that if we planned on paying bills, we were going to need help. Yesterday, Saturday the 28th, I quickly put the paperwork in the truck and headed over to Don's to spend the day in the wood shop with Bob. I don't really know how it finally came up but something to the tune of inspiring a "family is the most important thing in the world" conversation I told him the story I just related to you all. I told him about the collections notices and how I had tracked down the bills and what was paid. I showed him the paper work and began to profusly apologize for asking for more money especially as much as this. I let him know how hard it was for us to bring this up to him and that we had debated just dealing with it and hopeing that somehow the landlord wouldn't miss the $600 from the rent check. I conveyed our feelings of gratitude for everything he had done, and just when I thought I couldn't dig myself any deeper into a hole, he stepped back and groaned a little. He ran his hand over the top of his head and while examining the paperwork, said "stop by later and I'll take care of this". He and Don then left for homedepot while I spent another couple of hours working on my project. When they returned it was about 5:00 pm and Bob asked me to follow him back to his house. We we got there he asked me to wait and he went inside. Minutes later he emerged with a check book and wrote it out for the full amount. In a moment I will always remember, he looked me right in the eye and said candidly, "Don't ever hesistate to ask for help again, that kind of feeling should never happen with family, and we hope it never does again, you can always come to us with anything. We care about you guys and are really happy you're all here." Uncle Bob has always struck me as the more rigid and blunt of the two. But in that moment, I honestly felt like we were finally family and not an imposition on thier volcanic island. He topped it off with a bit of what I interpreted as humor and told me that this wasn't even a dent in his pocketbook. He smiled and gave me a hug and I thanked him and headed home. Mom's brothers are genuine as they come.