Promise

Jax Beach is a small, scruffy seaside town in Jacksonville Florida. It's not what I expected from Florida, to be honest, having visited other beach towns in Florida like Tampa, Daytona, and Miami. Jax Beach isn't like those towns.

Really it feels more like Venice Beach in California, replete with yoga studios, head shops, and vegetarian restaurants. Sun drenched surfers still wet from the ocean, walk back barefoot onto the main drag that hugs the shoreline. Skateboarders in tie die shirts ollie off the curbs of streets lined with cozy bungalows.

I'm here to meet Trey Thompson. Trey and his wife Shandy live in one of those small bungalows just a short walk from the beach. When I walk up to the front door, he greets me with a warm smile. His wife and their son Kaycin are eating dinner in the other room. They're both hometown kids. They've got everything to look forward to. And from the outside, you'd never know that Trey and Shandy have had to make some of the toughest choices any human being has to make.Today on ARRVLS, how do we plan for the future when the future is not what we had planned?

Click here to contribute to Trey & Shandy's medical fund

Illustration by Steph Tan Producer Jonathan I. Hirsch Associate Producer Nora Linde Editor Jonathan I. Hirsch Sound Design Jonathan I. Hirsch Additional Music Jonathan I. Hirsch, Niklas Gustavsson, Martin Gauffin, Gunnar Johnsen, Gavin Luke, August Wilhelmsson

ARRVLS is a proud member of the independent audio collective The Heard. Click here to find out more about the The Heard. If you have a story of migration, transformation, or change, we'd love to hear from you: email us at arrivalsshow@gmail.com.