It’s All About a Book… and it’s All about Love

But, what is the book about? It’s about learning life’s lessons the hard way.

There is a chapter in the book titled, “Time Out in a 32’ Travel Trailer”. In it, there’s a story…

We had built our dream home on an acre lot in a peaceful neighborhood outside the city limits. There were no streetlights, so we could sit outside in the evenings and see the stars and listen to nature. We loved the location and we loved our neighbors. The house and yard were perfect for parties, so we had a bunch of them.

When our kids were there to help with the cleaning, mowing, and upkeep, it was the ideal place for us. When our offspring left home to start their own lives, Mr. B and I decided that we didn’t like doing all that work ourselves. Seriously, we had a bunch of kids because we didn’t want to clean our own house or mow our own yard (just kidding…kind of). We already worked hard to afford the house, then we had to come home and put in several hours of work each week to keep it looking like we wanted it to. After a couple of good friends had life-chaning health events, we began to wonder, “If we don’t carpe diem now, then when?”

We sold that lovely home and moved into a 32-foot travel trailer that we parked in our son’s driveway. We needed time to decide where we wanted to live next, so we planted ourselves in Time Out and gave ourselves some breathing room.

I learned a few things while living in that 32’ travel trailer:

• I don’t need much to run a house and make a home. If you can’t find it in here, you don’t need it…probably.
• I had too much stuff before. It was nice to look at, but not so much fun to dust.
• I don’t need a closet full of clothes.
• The wind is loud.
• Rain is loud.
• Get over it. Pride is deceptive. Your true friends don’t care what you have. It’s more important to live within, or better yet, to live beneath your income. We are not to lay up treasures for ourselves here, but rather in Heaven. Give more away than you keep. As long as we hold tightly to our blessings, we cannot realize the pure joy that comes from opening our hands and letting our temporary possessions be just that, temporary.
• Share the space and find a way to get along.
• Only one person at a time can get ready in a hurry.
• We really do spin and toil.
• I don’t like the anxiety that comes from needing every penny we have.
• They are God’s pennies anyway.
• He is the Lord of my life. The sooner I submit to Him and turn my day over to Him, the sooner I can grasp the peace and joy He has for me. Whether I choose to live within His will or not, life is full of trials: the washer leaks, the car quits, and grandma dies. I can’t control any of it. Any. Of. It.
• Who really needs 5 slotted spoons, 12 large knives, 2 peelers, 6 spatulas, 5 pitchers and 57 bowls?
• I have too many of everything!
• I miss having parties.
• We really like each other’s company, which is a good thing because that’s about all that can live in here.

People asked us if the walls closed in and we needed some space. No, it didn’t. If it were just the two of us, we would have been perfectly content, but we love having our babies and their babies around, as well as our families and our friends. So, nine months later, we bought another, much smaller, home with a little front yard and a delightful cement pond in the back yard. (Please tell me that you know the Beverly Hillbillies had a cement pond.) We moved into it with a new attitude about people, things and our time here on earth.

It also taught me to offer extravagant grace to others. I don’t know what their struggle is and they don’t need me to beat them up while they’re trying to work through it.
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Well, that’s a sneak peak at one of the chapters. I’ll be back with more in a few days. In the meantime, I have a few favors to ask:

• If you like my blog, please tell your friends about carrieblair.net.
• I’d also appreciate you asking your friends to “like” my Facebook page, Carrie Blair.
• If you know of a church or business looking for a speaker, please send them to carrieblair.net.
• If you have any prayer requests, email me at [email protected].

Thanks a bunchy bunchy!