Sunday - Day 203 - The Story of Ps & Cues

Once upon a time there was a baby and a boy and a man.  They all lived together with a lovely young lady in an RV.  

They had the most interesting days together in their quaint little home. Sundays were their favorite days.  They liked to eat breakfast together, practice music together, play in the pool and tell tall tales together. 

One September Sunday was a particularly charming day.  The lovely lady made pancakes for the baby and the boy.  The two loved to eat pancakes together. They ate and they ate until they could not eat any longer.

Later that day, after eating pancakes, the boy practiced playing his shiny new piano.  He packed a punch and produced powerful piano tunes.  The boy practiced and practiced until he could not practice piano any longer.  

Soon after pigging out on pancakes and partaking in piano practice, the baby, the boy and the man, left their home to play in the pool for a spell. They laughed out loud as they splashed all around.  They played and played until the sky grew dark and the rain poured down and they could not play in the pool any longer.

The lovey lady had just arrived to the pool before the rain poured down.  They all packed up and pushed the baby in the stroller as it began to pour.  

As soon as they arrived home, the lady pulled off the baby's very wet diaper. Unbeknownst to the lady, the baby had previously pooped his pants, and poop rolled all over the floor.  The lovely lady was shocked with surprise as she quickly picked up the poop piece by piece.  The man laughed, as he had known exactly when the baby pooped at the pool.  

They continued on this pathetic path, as the lady and man walked to dispose of their putrid trash.  What did they see, but a large camper, with a ladder tightly secured on top.  

Perplexed the man asked the lovely one, "How do they retrieve the ladder if it is already on top of the camper?"  

The lady was equally puzzled.  "How did they get down, once they secured the ladder on top?"  Hmmmm, they each pondered this picture and called it a peculiar predicament. 

This particular Sunday permeated Ps; from palatable pancakes to practicing piano, and playing in the pool to pushing poop in the pouring rain, and pioneering peculiar predicaments.

The moral of the story: 

Some days you must mind your Ps and your "cues".  

Especially the cue when the baby poops in the pool, 
you may want to let the lovely lady, by your side, know it. 

Saturday - Day 202 - Clown Camper

James, Ty and I drove out of the campground to go grocery shopping, and commented on a mini camper as we left. 

 

This is how the exchange went:

James:  How many people can go in that camper? 

Me: Not a lot, probably only 2 or 3 people.  

James:  I saw a lot of people go in there.  

Me:  You did? How many?  

James:  I don't know, like SIX!  

Me:  Really?  What do you think they are ALL doing in there?

James: I don't know, I don't live there. 

I love catching the perspective of my five year old on certain things.  He is matter of fact and thoughtful. 

As he and I are having this conversation, all I could imagine is the little camper full of people, cramped in every nook and cranny.  

My next mental image was of all the people pouring out in clown costumes.   Funny wigs and red noses, big feet and large, colorful clothes.  They would be clowning around the campground looking for a place to roast the marshmallows they are carrying poked through sticks. 

As I write this, the little camper is long gone, but I swear I saw the driver's red curly hair as they pulled away, out of the gated area, yesterday evening.  

Friday - Day 201 - Bottoms Up!

"I can not think of a better way to spend a Friday night, then watching, "Ted" while drinking whiskey with my wife AND camping in our RV."  These were thoughts from my husband, spoken aloud, while settling into his chair.   

My husband recently discovered his wife (that's me) likes to drink whisky straight, in particular, Honey Jack Daniels. 

Something for everyone 

The only thing we needed to top it off was ice.  It's the one luxury we readily do not have available in the camper.  

My husband grabbed a large plastic Race Trac cup and off he went in search of cold cubes.  He reappeared soon later with his cup filled with ice. 

It was like he found his treasure of gold, he had claimed his prize.  The woman at the office was happy to oblige free of charge.  We had our ice, our drinks, and a Friday night, kid inappropriate movie to view while the boys were fast asleep. 

Friday nights at the campground do not get any better then this.  

Bottoms up and cheers!  

Thursday - Day 200 - Parallel Worlds

A milestone: 200 days living in our camper.  

That is more than half a year, which doesn't seem very long when I consider how fast the years can pass on by.

Yet it feels like a lifetime because our old lives feel extremely far away.

When I examine time in distance, instead of in days and months, the road traveled is far behind us.

Many decisions were made along the way to put us on a specific path.  The path we have traveled is a good one, but I ponder that an alternate path is running parallel to our current life, but with similar threads.

I feel if we stayed in Texas, James would still be doing many of the same things he is doing now, he would be in sports, attending kindergarten and enjoying his life.  His friends and acedemics would be different and he probably would not have begun piano lessons.  

Ty would be in school three days a week and growing like a weed.  His teacher and daily activities would be different. 

John would still be attending law school, commuting to work and absorbing life with his family. His commutes would be shorter and his classroom study would be altered. 

I would still be studying for CPA exams, caring for the boys and cooking for my husband.  Maybe I would be working, I would not be blogging, and we would not be living near the older children. 

. 

All in all, our lives would be similar, but different.  There is no turning back, but occasionally I like to look over at my parallel lives, if only to satisfy curiosity.  

Eventually, that other life will veer off in a different direction, much too far to see, or remember.

Wednesday - Day 199 - Life's Stages

We had our house builder meeting today. The reality of actually living in a home is becoming more and more real.

We were given an estimated timeline, and we are still on target for mid-December.  This means more time to enjoy our RV, in fabulous fall weather, and not have a mortgage or tons of house bills to pay.  Yippee do!

I am extremely cautious to not let the next few months slip away.  I can envision 

myself in my future kitchen reflecting on my 'now', my narrative playing out knowing we will never get this time back.  We will never live in this moment, in this particular campground, with James and Ty at their current ages ever again.

Life will change drastically and I promise myself, everyday, not to rush it.

My one and only inconvenience is commuting to Port Orange twice a day to get James and Ty to and from school and to take James to soccer.  Half our life is playing out in the next town, away from our home life.  

I consider this scenario and open my mind to the possibility that my commute would be much worse if I gained employment further away, so nothing is ever really that bad.

There is always that time when life changes and we reflect and consider how life was harder or easier before the change.  

Isn't everything in life only temporary, each stage playing out until the end.

Tuesday - Day 198 - ABCs of Camping

James and I were playing the ABC game in the car on the way to soccer practice this week.  Basically, the game is played by going through the alphabet and thinking of words that start with each letter.  We also looked for words on signs, for me this was important to prompt James to read the words.

Our game gave me an idea for a blog post.  "The ABCs of (full-time) camping life," what to know, what to look for and be what to wary of. 

A - Always be mindful of your neighbors, you never know who or what will move in next to you.

B - Bug Spray is imperative. 

C - Carry all trash to the dump, otherwise large raccoons will be visiting your camp over night. 

D - Doing laundry is really not that bad.  

E - Enjoy. Everyday is a vacation day. 

F - Forget everything you know about living in a house. 

G - Greet everyone you see walking down the road.  

H - Have Fun. Have fun. Have a beer. 

I - Ignore the dirt. 

J - Join activities, it allows you to get in on the campground gossip. 

K - Know your camper well & Keep a spare key handy.

L - Learn to clear your sewer tanks. It makes using the toilet better.  

M - Make time to read a good book

N - Never drive away with your sewer, water or electric still attached. 

O - Open your heart to those living with less.  

P -  Pack light, plan ahead.

Q - Quiet.  At night it's always peaceful. (except during frog season) 

R - Roll the awning in when it's really windy, raining hard or hailing. 

S - Savior the experience.  Save plastic bags for trash.

T- Time stands still, the simple life is worth appreciating 

U - Understand there will be a time when you won't be camping and you will miss it. 

V - Visitors are always Welcomed.  Invite others for cookouts and share your new found life. 

W - Walk around the campground.  Even without a dog, it's interesting to peak inside others campers.  

X - X-rated peep shows will be watched if you do not close your bedroom blinds

Y - Yard ornaments are a must if you plan on staying a while

Z -  Zen.  Find your camping Zen.

Monday - Day 197 - JOY

Today I experienced joy.  Joy in the purest form, joy that I do not have the pleasure of recreating often.  The kind of joy that envelopes the heart, holds it tight and spontaneously makes you cry.  

My mom called me.  My heart stopped as I knew she was calling to share results from her PET scan regarding the spot on her lung. 

Her voice was shaky and I was truly fearful she planned to tell me the worse, that the spot on her lung was cancerous and there was nothing they could do, treatment would be disastrous.  

She did not make me wait longer than a few long seconds to quickly inform me the spot had dissipated and her lungs were cancer free.  

A Healthy Life - Is a Cherished One.

A breathed a huge sigh of relief and smiled, my entire body relaxed.  I could hear my mom on the other end of the phone, jovial, optimistic and joyous.  Her oldself had reappeared.  She was feeling as I was and we shared moments fighting a flood of tears, through smiles on our faces.  

My life is general happy and content. There are moments of anger, sadness or fear, but my general disposition is positive on the whole.  This phone call with my mom was the highest peak of joy I do not experience often. The weight of concern for her, that had previously been in the back of my mind, had vanished.  I could hear in her voice that her own heart had lightened as well, "we were thankful to God and to our lives for a positive outcome."

There will be a day when this may not be the case, but today I will be joyous, with utter bliss, to share with all who care.