Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Opening Up My Mind


“So, what have you disliked but later opened your mind up to?”

When we first got married, my husband wanted to go camping and I was totally against it. Finally he wore me down a few years later and we went went camping. Our first trip was a total disaster. Luckily my sister in law gave us their old canvas tent that was huge and had a lot of poles. It took forever to put up and involved swear words and arguing. Then it rained and no one told me that you should NOT touch the tent when it rains. So, we had drops of rain inside the tent and I had to keep drinking to empty cans to catch the rain. After dark, our foam rubber mattress under our sleeping bag was sopping up water like a sponge. Later in the evening the gate closed to the campground and wouldn’t reopen until the morning. My husband offered to go to the car and sleep there the rest of the night but I was stubborn and refused. It was probably the most miserable camping trip I had ever been on!

So, the next time we decided to try again, I thought that the worst was behind us so next time would be better. And it was. Then every camping trip got even better. Maybe because I was getting more experienced and felt more comfortable.

Now I love camping! We moved on to better tents and better equipment. Eventually after 30 years of camping in a tent, we bought a travel trailer. Unfortunately my husband’s back can’t take sleeping on the ground any more.

But I still love camping. We get away from cell service and TVs. Hubby and I spend a lot of time talking and reflecting about lives. We do a lot of hiking and observing nature. It is a great time to recharge our batteries and see how good our lives are.

I have come a long way from being totally against it to not getting enough of it now.

I remind myself this when I try something new. I have always tried to do it 3 times before making a final decision on whether I like it or not. If I had not done that with camping, I would have missed out on so much.

What have you hated but kept an open mind about? Please share.
  
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