Take a chance
Joining a family camping trip despite an unfavorable weather forecast
By Theresa Blume
Featured Columnist
“When you take a chance, sometimes good things happen, and sometimes bad things happen, but if you don’t take a chance, nothing happens,” Dorothy from the series “Golden Girls” stated in the rerun that I had watched so many times before, yet this time that quote stood out because this last weekend was a great example of its truth.
My son and his wife had asked us to join them for some quality time on their camping trip. They had planned this a long time ago, so my son made it clear that, rain or shine, they were staying there. As the weekend got closer, it definitely looked like rain.
My other son came the night before, and by the next morning he was informed that the weather was only going to get worse, so he packed up and left. Then he called us, suggesting that it would not be worth leaving the house.
My husband and I went back and forth with discussion. Should we go or stay home? We looked at the radar map on the TV and on my phone. We had everything prepared, so finally we decided we would go early and hopefully miss the big expected storms.
The weather cleared up almost as soon as we got there. It was somewhat cloudy, but even the sun made an appearance several times. I took some great pictures.
Then we socialized and enjoyed the meal and had a blast watching our granddaughter zip from one activity to the next. She did not seem bothered by the fact that rain was forecast. This was the first camping trip in her memory, and she was making the best of every single moment. She climbed onto a picnic table while eating a hot dog. She threw rocks in the lake. Her grandfather from Hudson helped her discover a toad in the wet grass, and even though she would not touch it, she was definitely intrigued. She finally found out what that strange looking kayak did when her father pulled her around on the ground, and then she watched him use it on the lake. Her biggest delight was finding water puddles and stomping in them.
Several times that day we all mentioned how awesome the weather had turned out to be despite the dire predictions. We also talked about how sad it was that my other son left early and missed such a great time with family.
It seems important to us humans that we try to predict the weather and make our decisions based on those predictions. Yet, watching my granddaughter brings it all back into perspective that we are not going to melt and that weather just makes things more interesting.
When I think about the fact that we almost missed this experience, I look at the pictures I took and am grateful that we went. I want to remember last weekend’s lesson and promise myself that the next time I want to do something, as long as safety is not an issue, I will take a chance.
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