rain happens

The weather forecast suggested we were in for some rain. Trying to look on the bright side, I was sure a few damp days could be brushed aside with some holiday nonchalance. After 100+ mm, most of the last 48 hours stuck inside the caravan, an abandoned tent with wet mattresses, blisters from digging trenches, tarp pegs that constantly come out in the wind gusts because the soil is so sodden and another day of rain ahead of us … sometimes I wonder why we do this!!

Anyone who camps regularly has some horror stories. We sometimes recount the Easter a couple of years back when the 150km/h winds made a mockery of our attempts to pin our tent to the ground. So why do we keep coming back?

One of the attractions of being in the caravan is that we feel closer to nature. Our modern living quarantines us from most of what nature offers except for extreme weather events. There is something natural about the discomfort that comes from being vulnerable to nature. When we were trying to figure out how to fit everyone into dry sleeping spaces for tonight, Gaylene (grandma) suggested she’s be happy sleeping outside on a bench just to soak in the drama. Bless her.

So what do we do? We go for walks and swims in the wind and rain. We sit in each other’s personal space and read, play games, fiddle with our photos (that’ll be Maria), scheme elaborate cooking plans (that’ll be me). We soak up the goodness of being together.

And yes, we hope for blue skies and we’ll celebrate them when (or if) they arrive because when the sun shines it lifts our spirits. But in the meantime, we live out this curious habit of gathering with others in great locations in makeshift homes, simplifying life, and not worrying about doing in favour of just being.