I feel like if there was a theme to our third week of traveling fulltime it would be “real life has begun.” I remember when Scott and I first got married, there was a point where I realized that this was the rest of my life. It wasn’t a negative realization; just more of a slap across my head that I was going to spend the rest of my life making decisions with another person. We were going to decide what to eat, where to shop, where to live, how much to spend, and so on. It was no longer a me thing; everything was now a we thing. In other words, the honeymoon was over and real life had begun.
This week in the camper has been just like that. I knew we weren’t signing up for a lifelong vacation, but this week has been my slap across the back of the head Gibbs style that this certainly is not a vacation. We’ve had a gray water tank leak (think overwhelming portapotty smell coming from under our camper), a roof leak, a propane tank run out (no hot shower for me), a baby on a nap strike, fire ant and mosquito bites covering my body, hit and miss internet, and a campground dryer that only wants to dry part of a load…. And that just covered two days of the last week.
To say we have been adjusting to life in our new home is an understatement. We had been living in a small house in Tulsa, spending most of our day in just half of it, so we really thought that our adjustment to life in the camper would not be that big of a deal. In terms of space, it really hasn’t been. But I had underestimated the other things that would need to change as well- no yard, no neighborhood to walk around, no stores to walk to, no washer and dryer to use for free whenever I needed (small children are not clean individuals by definition).
And then there is the whole adjustment to keeping the camper working. After our grey water tank leak, we have tried to be extra careful to not let our galley (kitchen) tank get too full. Scott was rushing out the door one morning to help gut a flooded home when I realized the tank was going to need to be emptied. Being the *ahem* determined woman that I am, I quickly asked for directions how to empty it. No matter that I have never seen anyone empty a camper tank before nor did I even know where they were located other than underneath. Surely I could do it, right? Wrong… I couldn’t even find them.
Through all of the ups and many downs of the last week, I will take it as a good sign that I have never once reconsidered our decision to be a fulltime family. I might have had a few “what have we gotten ourselves into” moments. There might even have been a reference to the movie Money Pit at one point. But there is always a peace in the midst of the storm when you know you are following God’s will. In the middle of life’s craziness, there is always that still, small voice inside that reminds me, “Keep going. You can do this.” So this week I will choose to rest in that reassurance.