Keeping the perspective

• the seven hour drive with two kids under four would have been more stressful;

• the wet rainy weather combined with my poor packing choices would have put a damper on the weekend (well, I guess it did - We were rather damp! Rain coats? Not this family, we are on SUMMER vacation for goodness sakes!);

• being stuck in a camper (13'x6') for most of the day with two kids under four would have been annoying and frustrating.

I enter into so much of my life with expectations and a skewed sense of entitlement (I deserve a vacation, with easy travel and well-behaved, calm, quiet kids, and of course, good weather!!) Expanding my perspective helped me see that this time was truly a beautiful gift, even in the rain and close quarters.

Spending a weekend away with my family; in camper with electricity and heat, that is bigger and more luxurious than what many families call home   = BLESSED IMMEASURABLY.

But I am so habituated to my first-world, that I see only what I don't have and what I am missing.  I find myself constantly shifting my perspective to remember what I do have to see things in a new light, in a more accurate light....