As part of this crazy year, we became the proud owners of a little pop up camper. We wanted to make memories as a family. Dave thought maybe renting one a few times would be prudent, but I was ALL in . We agreed that we would approach things with a growth mindset on our camping adventures. Each time we have a challenge, we wanted to see it as a something we will know for next time instead of a failing or with blame. This weekend was our 2nd trip. Ok, so we were put to the test on our first day. On the trip down, our transferable brake controller flew off. Uh oh! Thankfully, We made it safely to the campsite.
Then, we pull in to the state park that kind of looked like a “downtown” Camping area . We learned that being on the perimeter is a better option than right in the middle of the action. We stayed positive – the kids will have friends they can play with.
Then, we had forgotten to pick up firewood on our way to the campsite. No problem, my youngest and I headed out to grab some. With the recent cold snap, they were out of firewood for a 10 mile radius. Thanks to Walt, the kind gentleman at Home Depot, we were able to get lots of untreated wood cutting scraps and an oversized bag of charcoal and we were off. I knew that explaining that to Dave was going to take creativity. . All good, the neighbors also had some wood for us as well.
By s’mores time Friday night, Dave and I exchanged looks like – can we handle another day and a half of this . We were having a lot of fun and with our crew, but it was a ton of work. We had to remind ourselves more than once that the kids were having a ball even though we were utterly exhausted.
Remember that brake controller issue? That comes back in to play here in just a minute…
We received advice a long time ago about marriage…”just remember, some of the craziest situations will be the funniest stories and memories for you as a couple and family if you intentionally choose to make them that way.” After almost 10 years of marriage, and more than a few less than ideal moments along the way, today, we followed that advice.
We were tied up for 2 hours longer than expected because when the brake controller came off, somehow it triggered a brake lock issue. Oh boy!
Mind you, on our first trip a tire blew out and the side door flew open in route! So after 2 hours of entertaining 3 kids and 2 dogs and a nice man at the dealership walked us through over the phone of what to do, Dave says we are 0 for 2 on “no serious issue” trips. We laughed! This is huge, earlier in our marriage, I would have probably been frustrated on our way home.
I started researching “RV rentals” as a possible option for the future. Dave promised he wouldn’t say “I told you so” since that was his recommendation when I first proposed this crazy idea initially. We laughed some more and gave each other a knowing look.
We probably aren’t ready to give up on being Camper owners just yet, but I am thankful we could laugh today. Life is just too short to take it too seriously and ruin a beautiful weekend.
