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One of the pros of living on the road is never hearing the news. Every once in a while, I’ll catch a Twitter hashtag, but for the most part I do not know what is happening in the world. More importantly, I’m not inundated with negativity from peers on social media or from the news. In this time away from the Internet and technology, I’ve learned a valuable truth.
People are good.
Maybe the world is evil and bad things happen, but people are inherently good.
“We were bound to run into a jerk boss at some point during this trip.” That’s what Heath said as we were on our way to a job in Missoula, Montana. In a brief phone call the night before, our contact was short and unhelpful. For the first time, we were genuinely unexcited for a job and worried about our experience.
By the end of work that day, we walked to our RV with an armful of hamburgers, hot dogs, salad, beer, and wine from our lovely, new Montana friends.
Why? Because people are good. People are kind, helpful, and generous when given the chance.
In my line of work, I meet many strangers. These strangers offer food, a place to stay, a cup of coffee. They ask us where we’ve been and where we’re going and offer advice.
Sometimes, it’s easy for circumstances to get us down. We don’t have as much money as we’d like, as nice of a car as we want, or as many friends as we need. Wallowing in what we lack is easy.
But what is harder is to count your blessings. Count how often you are extended kindness and how often you have more than enough.
Heath and I have decided to keep a journal of all the blessings we receive throughout our trip.
For example, our battery for our coach has been dying on us. We expect to need to shell out at least $100 on a replacement. However, the affable Walmart mechanic took Heath into the bay showed him the battery and how the negative charge was loose making the battery unable to charge. It cost $5 for a replacement piece, and we watched cartoons in the waiting room in the meantime. Now that’s a blessing.
I hope that keeping a journal of our blessings will keep our hearts in check while we are on the road. No matter how much it costs to fill up our tank of gas, we are truly blessed.
Alyssa, I have truly enjoyed following your blog. You have an amazing gift of writing and expressing the thoughts so many of us have, but don’t know how to put into words. I love that you and your new husband are getting to have this amazing, once in a lifetime experience. Embrace every moment, even the mundane and challenging (I need to follow my own advice as well)! Thank you for the reminder to remember our blessings. You are such a sweet, beautiful young lady!! (I am your mom and dad’s friend in case you can’t remember me!)
Angela, thank you so much for your kind words! I was telling Heath about you the other day when I noticed a Guilloud on my email list. Thank you so much for encouraging us on our crazy journey!
Alyssa, I’ve only began reading your blog. You are such a breath of fresh air. I find myself looking forward to checking my mail everyday, hoping for a blog from you! Today’s was very refreshing! You are such a positive young lady. When life hands you lemons, you make lemonade. I love that about you.
We are full time Rvers since 2/2012. We are in our new to us coach right now in Newport, Wash. We had just purchased it about a month before we left Texas in mid July. We are doing a few things to the inside to bring it more up to date. We were in Missoula for 3 nights, where we stayed at Jellystone Park, where the folks were very nice. The fresh produce is wonderful up here. We will be heading to the Washington/Oregon coast after Labor Day and will return to the Dallas area in mid to late October.
Continue enjoying seeing this beautiful land that God put before us. And continue inspiring those of us who look forward to your daily blogs.
Debbie
Debbie, wow! I think your words may be the sweetest thing anyone’s ever said to me (don’t tell my husband). We are already in love with full time RVing after two months. Every day is new. We loved Montana and the Pacific northwest, everything is so green! Thank you so much for your encouragement, it makes writing easier!
[…] I wrote yesterday’s blog and smiled to myself thinking of how immensely blessed we are, Heath drove us north across the Wyoming state line for third time during our trip and […]
[…] few weeks ago, I talked about counting our blessings on this trip to better recognize all of the kindness being extended to us in our travels. Now that […]