Different Perspectives

We've written here before about perspective - and don't be too surprised if by the end of this post, it's filled with at least a few other introspective statements and/or sayings. Call them cliche's if you wish. However, perspective, and all it's guts and glory, have been in our faces over the past few days. In actuality, perspective can be the ultimate double edged sword. For the most part, a situation by itself, is usually neither good nor bad - it's our perspective that can make it so. For example, the weather. It could be a 90 degree humid day. One person could hate it, another would love it. All depends on one's point of view.

We're gaining more perspective with our RV. Any and all repairs are being finished as we write this. After that, we'll fill up the propane and water systems. After that, dare we venture to say, we should be good to go? This is certainly our hope - it's starting to get too cold here, especially in the mornings. See? It's all about perspective.  :)

However, even though our initial departure date has been delayed, we're still
engaging in the area. Yes, we've lived here for over 15 years, but it's amazing how much we've missed or haven't done in a while. We went apple picking with our friend Mary Jane the other day. That was a tad unusual due to the fact that numerous apples weren't ready to be picked yet coupled with the fact that the orchard had been hit hard by last weeks' thunderstorms. We're talking downed & damaged trees and hail affected apples. But we managed to pick a bag of Ginger Golds & had a great time. We've never had this type before. Another evening, we checked out a benefit concert (Elephest 2013) that featured a number of local bands. The cause? To help the Hope Elephants organization. Yes, even elephants come to Maine to retire... We also enjoyed our 2nd summer cookout complete with s'mores. Yeah, that's what came to our minds - our second cookout & it's September. (Another perspective point--Time flies when you're having fun!)

We were searching the Internet for detailed information about our RV. While we came across some cool information, we also stumbled onto some fairly bizarre stuff. One cool thing was that we found out our RV is a rare model called Seafarer which means "following the Way". While it doesn't affect things like suspension, brakes, and drive-train parts, it will be a real pain if we ever try to find some original interior decorating parts that came standard on this rig - like a ships bell, weather instaments and a fog horn. One of the more twisted things we found was this picture. We've done some weird things with cars, trucks, snowmobiles, and even motor boats, but never anything like this. Apparently, this is a new type of crash test that Winnebago industries undertook.

If we were practicing letting go in August, we've been practicing acceptance this month while trying to shed the concept of passive compliance. Acceptance is not submission. It is acknowledgement of the facts of a situation, then deciding what you're going to do about it. As far as passive compliance, we'll break this down. Passive is an adjective which means receptive to outside impressions or influences that are not always you're own. Compliance is a noun meaning conformity in fulfilling requirements or a disposition to yield to others. The key here is that passive compliance with whatever is occurring need no longer dominate our pattern of behavior. We must push past the fear of what we don't know or understand and move forward with our new found information in order to grow positively.

We've been asked numerous times, "...is this move a good thing? I mean, if your stressing about it." It's at this juncture, we usually ask the other party if they've ever moved before - the answer is always an obvious yes. Then we followed it up with another inquiry - has the move ever been stress free? Then they get the point we're trying to make. Even the in-between times that come along can be stress filled. For example, the in-between times have been looking for a camper and actually purchasing it, getting the RV home and getting it repaired.

We would be more stressed if we stayed. We love Maine, all its beauty and it was a great place to raise our kids. Unfortunately, a short term reprieve does not equal a long term benefit. Change is not easy - even if it's for the better. There's always some factor of risk and the unknown. However, as a human race we cannot hold onto old ideas and concepts. It's fine not to shut the door on our past, but we can't let it dictate our ideas, dreams, goals, and our lives. If we do, we'll be living in a state of passive compliance.


I was watching an old TV show from the very early 60's called "Route 66". At the end of one of the episodes, one of the main characters quoted the following;
"When you come to an impasse, look to the 3rd side of the coin. The 3rd side to a coin is the edge - the place where the other two sides come together. A meeting place of heads and tails. It's the best side because it welds the two opposites together. And it's a perfect circle - continuous, closed and perfect - endless as understanding itself."

Until next time,
The Happy Campers,
Jill & Dave