When One Phone Call Changes Everything

We had our new site picked out...









Spring was in the air in Michigan!





There were faces in the trees!














And a few other familiar faces around the park.






The pool is shaped like the State of Michigan!




Our plans had to be modified, instead of following the NASCAR tour for awhile we decided to find some steady work for the summer. At first, we were disappointed, but then, in our search we found this wonderful campground and we became very excited about spending the summer here in Michigan where I could show Jerry many of the places I enjoyed as a child.

Immediately upon our arrival there was a comfortable feeling between the owners, the other Workampers and us. It was a great fit and we just knew we were going to have a marvelous summer, not only working here but also the many wonderful day trips we had planned.

We were just settling into our new jobs at the Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park in Indian River, Michigan when everything changed. The phone rang and a friend needed our help and we didn’t even hesitate and told him we would be there just as soon as we could. It was a very hard thing for us to inform our new bosses that we would have to leave. We were all very disappointed and very saddened but since they are wonderful, understanding people, they understood and asked if we could stay for about a week to complete some of the projects and of course we agreed.

So once again we packed it all up, headed on the road and found ourselves back in Minnesota and truly enjoying the entire journey of our lives.

Let Go & Let God, Forgive, Live in the Moment…

The list goes on and on for how to live your life on a more spiritual path. It all seems so simple and really it is, except, for when it comes to living this way with your children, your grown children is even worse, at least that is the way it is with me.

It has always been so much easier for me to love my grandson, unconditionally then it ever was with my daughter. I think it’s because when it is “your” daughter you want the best for her, as I do with my grandson but with her I never wanted her to go down the same path that I chose. I wanted to spare her of all the pain and heartaches but instead by trying to conform her I indeed pushed her right down the exact paths I had been so desperately trying for her to avoid. I do not know how to make this all right and the pain gets stronger as each day passes without contact with her and our grandson.

Life just seems so empty now without them that I struggle with it every waking moment and even in my dreams. I know, “It’s not fair” is not where I need to be in my thoughts but really, now, how long does this have to go on. There are lessons for me to learn from all of this and every day I am learning some very powerful ones, ones that I feel should put an end to this but it doesn’t. I wake up every morning with the hope that maybe, just maybe, today will be the day that it gets resolved but then every evening the pain is stronger as I fall to sleep knowing again there was no resolution.

I pray for answers but mostly I pray that I will make it through another day because I know the pain it would cause her if anything should happen to me while we are still estranged from one another. She is telling everyone that her mother is dead and has even said it to me several times when I have reached out to her in the past year. She is just very angry and I pray that she is able to work it through and I pray for guidance for what I shall do next but it seems no matter what I do, I just seem to make her angrier. I have even done nothing for months and just put it in God’s hands but nothing happened. Therefore, I continue to pray and do all that I am guided to do until the day we are able to resolve these issues, move beyond our differences and once again be mother and daughter, and Nana and grandson.

One of Our New Goals Is To…

Write a blog everyday, so here is today’s.

I love Sundays because we start them with Church online. Yes, you read that correctly, we do Church online. Renaissance Unity from Warren, Michigan does a live feed from the Sunday morning services, we have been doing this now for many years and we love it.

This morning Greg Barrette, one of the ministers spoke about your “Spiritual Tool Box”, tools you need for your spiritual growth. The number one tool he spoke about is meditation and we totally agree. We both have a hard time doing this everyday but when we do things fall into place but when we don’t then things get a bit out of sorts. We don’t always reach the clear space as we should but that is not a major problem according to Greg this morning. He mentioned that as long as you take the time and quiet your mind that it will accomplish what you need and that is what we plan to do from this day forward.

Direct TV Fiasco

Full-time RVing is challenging for so many reasons but watching TV should not be one of those reasons. We have been with Direct TV since we first began this new lifestyle over 3 years ago, it was all going good, and TV life was great. Take our dish along with us while on the road, pull it out, set it up and find signal. Jerry was at a point that he only needed about 10 minutes from start to finish and the calls to the company to change our service address were just as quick.

A few months ago, something changed and it was not our procedures, we began to notice that the calls were getting longer and the representatives were demanding much more information then we previously provided. Depending on which representative you spoke to at the time, the information was different. They advised us that we could no longer change our service address as often as we had been doing and that we would need to pay for the East and West Networks for local channels instead. We were fine with that and asked them to send us the necessary paperwork. Once we received the paperwork and even though it consisted of affidavits, contracts and copies of our motorhome registration, we were still open to it. We signed, copied and mailed them off, we dotted all of our I’s and crossed all of our T’s but they claimed it was illegible. So off with another copy of all of the necessary paperwork for approval but that was not the end of it all.

Time slipped by and our mail delivery was being held up due to our extensive traveling and I was curious if we had been approved since it had been well over 4 months since the paperwork process began. We were settling into a campground for a few months at this time so we called to get it all connected. Five calls with different representatives in one day just to try to get some service. Three of those five confirmed that all paperwork was complete and ready for them to push the button but we first needed to have signal. Well we were are in an area where signal is very rare so about three days later of us playing with it daily we finally had some assistance from a Direct TV man that was at the campground doing other work. He charged us $25, much less than the representatives had been quoting, $55 just to come out here plus 30 cents a mile, (we are about 20 miles from the store), and then the cost of whatever needed replaced or repaired.

Finally, we had signal and I made the call. Again, on the line with several different representatives, even a supervisor and each had something different to say. Even after hours of conversations and plenty of frustration once again it ended without any sort of resolution. Customer service is not a big deal until you have to deal with the representatives and then it truly matters. We have not received good customer service with them for way too long so we are going to switch our satellite TV provider and see if the others are any better if not believe me it can not get any worse then what we have been dealing with at Direct TV for the last six months.

I Have Lost My Zen!

Nothing new has happened in our lives but for some reason I have no energy. My daughter did call me once she received my letter and she was as angry as ever. Yes, that hurts but that was over a week ago… We did work very hard at Hickory Lake Campground but we have had a few days off to rest now… We have arrived at our new workamping experience and it appears to be all we expected… It was a nice adventure here with absolutely no events that should have caused any sadness… So what might have zapped all of my Zen from my soul?

It has been slowly fading for the past few days now. Being connected and full of hope is the only way to survive the daily challenges that come into my life. Anything might happen next and without that hope I may not be able to get through it without some damage. Meditation is just making me cry again today but giving up is not an option. This setback will not keep me down for long, I will find a way to get through this and come out more wiser and much more energetic, ready to take on the world once again.