Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Family Times

Our furbaby loved the big yard to roam in
My sis-n-law had graciously offered us her driveway to park our monstrosity. I call it that only because 32 ft. of a white house on wheels parked next to your garage can be a little daunting if you’re not used to it. When we are slid out we take up double the space of an older model with no slides. Most people still think of these only when you mention a camper, they are completely unaware even to this day of slides on campers. These almost double your floor space; this really helps with the full grown Labrador.
      
     Parking in her driveway gave us an opportunity to do two things. One was to spend some much needed time with our families only 45 minutes south of us in Alabama. Reason #2 was to save some money on rent for a short little while. After a week of troubles, trial and a few triumphs we were glad to be here with a loaded baked potato from our local BBQ joint. The next few days were playing and spending time with the two of the newest niece and nephew of the family.  The hubby and I even got to see our moms for a short visit; I had one friend drive all the way up and spend the afternoon with me. Believe it or not it is really hard to convince people to drive 0-45 min to see you after you’ve went halfway across the country. Staying this close to the family and working in town for the summer just so we could spend some time with them was our plan; we’ll see how well this one actually works out.

      
David Crockett State Park, TN
     The truth about our hometown and most of the surrounding towns, they were poor towns; they just didn’t have the industry and jobs like many of the towns we had been in. We ended up spending the summer scraping and scrounging to get by, very thankful the sis-n-law was nice enough to let us stay there. It was a total of ten weeks that we were parked beside her house hooked up to a 15 amp circuit just trying to stay cool in the humid Southern summer.
      
     

The hubby landed a temporary job which allowed us to move into an RV park just down the road and get the rig hooked up to the full 30 amps. We struggled to stay cool here but thankfully the owners were retired A/C guys who just happened to have a few rooftop A/Cs lying around. It didn’t take long for the hubby to start scheming on a plan to trade tools or something for an A/C; we had been dealing with only a window unit for far too long. After being there for almost a month the owner told us that if his A/C would fit, he would bless us with it for free. This was an absolute huge blessing to us since we needed it so badly; he said that since he had been blessed with so much in his life that he would pay it forward. We count our blessings, big and small, every day in this house.
    
  
     We were slowly sinking here but then again, can you put a price on being able to spend time with the family? It was time to start planning our next stop and job in a bigger city soon enough though. The hubby had applied for a security badge for a job in Memphis, TN; still close enough to see the family for weekend visits. We moved closer in to town for the last week of our stay in Alabama, by Wheeler Dam. It was a beautiful small park make for smaller rigs. While backing the rig in the hubby got it in a pinch. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to hearing the sound of fiberglass crunching as it tears a hole into our home on wheels. Yep, add another repair to the to-do list, but tape will work for now (as I write this, it is 9 months later and the tape is still holding).
      
     Here the lil one got to spend some much needed time with both brothers together. Oh how the lil brain expanded with all the lessons they taught. There are certain things in a child’s life that only siblings can teach them; being tough, the world doesn’t revolve around them only, and that the world isn’t fair come to mind first. As parents you try and try but these are some of the lessons only older siblings get to do. The experimented with fire and ants, how long a marshmallow will burn before it plummets into the fire along with just talking and enjoying their time together. I think the most fun was had when the brothers were teaching the lil one how to throw/catch a football. I think they got a kick out of being able to actually throw the ball at the baby and not be yelled at. They are old enough now to know how much force is needed but at the same time make it only sting if the catch is missed; something only big brothers can do.
      
     Time flew by while here, it was time to go much too soon. Leaving family and my son is one of the hardest things to do, but knowing our little family couldn’t survive there keeps pulling me away. I am counting the blessings of technology that allows us all to stay in touch and share moments that would otherwise be missed by many. We had a set of extra hands to help on this trip as my oldest was going on the road with us for a while. A few tears and hugs to all who came to see us off and we were ready to embark on the next leg of our journey. The hubby and I decided on another leap of faith---move on to Memphis while waiting on the security badge for the job there. All else fails it was a bigger city with more money which usually means more jobs.

Until next time……

There’s no other love like the love for a brother. There’s no other love like the love from a brother. ~Terri Guillemets



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