A Good Time AND a Good Story
Ahhhhhh…the crackle of the campfire, the smell of pine trees, the stars stretching out across the sky – for us, camping in the great outdoors is the ultimate escape. But let’s be honest – @#$% happens and Mother Nature loves a good laugh. Over the years, we’ve endured raccoons robbing us blind, strangers stealing our cooler, our tents literally floating – the list goes on. As our niece likes to say, “It’s either a good time or a good story.”
Julie: It does seem the camping gods have been against us this year. With our first camping trip with our twin nieces came rare 100-degree heat, suffocating humidity, and hordes of bugs. Thunderstorms were rocking and rolling every night AND popped up unexpectedly right in the middle of our kayak trip – YIKES!
John: Our second trip with the family started out with a leaky air mattress and ended with another unforecasted thunderstorm that brought about 3 inches of rain in an hour. More floating tents. Sigh. On the way home the next day, our boat trailer tire blew. Forty-five minutes later when the spare blew, we just looked at each other in disbelief. It was now midnight and we were out of options. We generally pride ourselves on being prepared for anything, but there was just no way to be prepared for all of this.
Julie: When a camping trip goes sideways, it is incredibly easy to spiral into a mood that matches the stormy weather. But here is the secret to surviving, and actually enjoying, a chaotic camping trip: your mindset matters way more than your gear.
When things start to unravel, the very first thing we try to do is pause. When I take a deep, slow breath, I am reminded that this isn’t anybody’s fault, especially the person I love most in the world – John. We have also found that when we take a breath and stay calm, we are better able to shift into problem-solving mode and work TOGETHER to come up with a solution.
John: It also helps to look at the big picture. At 3 am, the deflated mattress was a huge annoyance. But this wasn’t our first rodeo. We know that in five years, we won’t remember the nights we slept peacefully, but we will definitely laugh about the time we woke up flat on the ground.
Julie: The mishaps are almost always the parts of the trip that stick with us the longest. They have taught us patience and flexibility, as well as bringing us closer to each other and the people sharing the experience with us. The twins can’t stop talking about the big adventure they had with Uncle John and Aunt Julie – and what a good time they had. What seemed like chaos at the time created memories and bonds with them that we’ll share for a lifetime.
John: It also helps to focus on the positive. We will look back at our second trip and not only remember the boat trailer fiasco, but also how much fun it was for our oldest grandson to go camping for the first time, the joy of introducing the family to our newborn second grandson, and the thrill of our nephew and his wife creating a personalized Mad-Lib that announced they are expecting!
Julie: So our niece was only partly right – it can be a good time AND a good story. After all, a bad day camping is still better than a good day at the office. Sometimes the best adventures are the ones you never planned for.
