Every day in the car, Jimmy and I try to figure out what day it is. The only reminder about today is Mother’s Day. How crazy is that? I called my mom, who is headed to Canada for a vacation. They left my dog, Dexter, with my sister in Orange County, CA, while they are gone. They won’t be back to Arizona until the 27th. Or 29th. I don’t even remember. I won’t see Dexter until I’m home for a week!
We are driving to Cambridge today. The past few days, we’ve been able to see friends and family. We got to Buffalo (my home town) on Friday night. My friends from high school got together to greet us, which was awesome! I had wings. REAL WINGS!!! We got to Poughkeepsie last night. Jimmy’s cousin lives here, so he stayed with him last night. I requested a late check-out this morning. I am pretty beat. We both are. Seeing familiar faces helped us both, though!
Our last few interviews were with Kris in Minneapolis, Harvey in Chicago, and Ricky in Detroit.
Kris was awesome! She sent us on our way with homemade cookies and caramel popcorn. The popcorn was devoured pretty quickly! We got to meet two of her kids, too. It was a really nice interview! She even had a box of Kleenex set up for us. I have been expecting a tear fest for each interview, but I haven’t had much of a breakdown yet. Frankly, I’m surprised.

We then headed to Chicago to interview Harvey. He just got his second transplant late last summer. Harvey has been a HUGE activist in the organ donation community, which is why he is in the film. I learned a lot during his interview! We had Lake Michigan as the backdrop for our filming, and it was a cloudy, windy day. I wasn’t sure what to expect from him, and I’m so glad I included him. We had a little fun and I even asked him which pizza he preferred: Chicago or NY (He is from NYC originally.) He didn’t really answer that question. Hahahahahaha!

Next, Detroit Rock City to interview Ricky! He’s actually the inspiration for this film. A couple weeks before my surgery, I saw on Facebook “Comedian donates kidney because of Facebook post.” What? I’m not the first Social Media donor???? I searched for him on Facebook, and immediately asked him how he felt after surgery. I hadn’t talked to a recent donor yet, and really wanted to know how I would be feeling. He even set us up with a gig that night, because we’ve both been itching to perform. We met him at Beaumont hospital, as he was having his 2-year check-up that day. Everyone there was amazing!! I cried while leaving. Thank you, Ricky, for being there for me!!!

We head to Cambridge tonight to interview John in the morning. Then driving to NYC to interview Elissa Tuesday morning. New Jersey that afternoon to interview Melissa. Wednesday, we get to Baltimore to interview Nancy. After that, we are pretty much on our way home. We only have one more stop, in Arkansas. We expect to be home the 21st!