I might as well help you all laugh at our misfortune

The Travelling Gong Show

I learned long ago that the best way to deal with life’s disappointments is a little perspective and a lot of laughter.

Let’s start with perspective. 

My Summer Vacation was…. less then ideal.

While I was crying over broken transmissions, whining about uncomfortable car rides and bitching about plans that didn’t work out, almost 2000 people died in Pakistan from the flooding.  20 million are homeless and lacking in even the most basic of human necessities. 

The kind we don’t have to pay much for

Usually, it’s a week in with my inlaws and then a week at a Cabin my parent’s rent in BC with my parents and usually my brother and his girlfriend (It’s a very big cabin, really, it’s a house).

This year, it seems my cousin was getting married on Vancouver Island, so there was a slight change in the usual plan.  The new plan was as follows:

1. Go to In-Laws from August 1st to 5th.
2. Leave August 5th in the 7 seater minivan with my parents and Auntie Suey.  Leave kids at In Laws.
Drive to Kamloops.  Spend the night there.
3. Leave Kamloops on August 6th, drive to Parksville.  Stay there until August 8th.
4. Leave Parksville August 8th.  Drive to Kelowna.  Spend the night there.
5. Drive Back to the In Laws August 9th.
6. Bring kids with us to Invermere August 10th, stay until the 15th, head home.

This was a good plan.  It had comfort, Suey who had never been west of Calgary and is from Ontario,  got to see the mountains.  There were times of no kids and while yes, it was driving across a province with my parents, there were evenings and hotels and well, no kids.  It had taken a little wrangling to convince my dad to take our van, but in the end having a 7 seater van for 5 adults made more sense then his little car and 3 crammed in the backseat….. *sigh*

INCIDENT #1

Our first day in with the In Laws we head to Calgary after Church and have dinner with my cousin Megan, her fiancee Mike and my brother’s girlfriend Heather.  Fun is had.  Good food, cooked by Mike, is eaten.  Kids are amused touching Mike’s collectibles.  Adults are amused watching Mike’s brain explode as kids touch his not-to-be-touched collectibles.  Good times had by all.

But when we get back to my in-laws, our camera is not to be found.  It’s not in the van.  Not in my purse.  Not in the house.  Megan is called.  It is not anywhere to be found at her place either.  Mild annoyance sets in.  This was not a super-expensive camera, it’s a point and click.  But it’s the only one we have and it’s only 6 months old.  I am….irked.

INCIDENT #2

Heading out for coffee with a good friend I haven’t seen in ages, I grab my favorite shoes.  The ones I love the most.  The ones I brought for the wedding.  I pull a strap and…. it breaks.

You may not feel this is “Incident Worthy”.

You have not seen the shoes.

I have considered buying a shadowbox to showcase these shoes when I am not wearing them. 

They are beautiful shoes, and they are broken. 

*choke* let’s move on………*sniff*

INCIDENT #3

We leave our wonderful kids with my wonderful in-laws and drive to Kamloops.  The ride is quiet, peaceful.  We have fun stopping in to see friends at their cabin in Sicamous for lunch.  I consider seeing if my husband cares to join me for a pre-birthday dinner that night in Kamloops as it is his birthday the next day.  We pull in to the hotel and as we are unloading, a lady comes up to me to say our van seems to be leaking oil.

I think, eh, that happens.  Might need more oil.  DH will take a look.

As we are registering and I am very happy that the military discount at the Best Western saved almost half the cost of the room.  The Hotel looks new.  So does the driveway that our van is, at this point, seemingly GIVING BIRTH to it’s transmission on.  Disgusting red transmission fluid pours out of it.  Nathan notices it is up the back of the van, meaning it had been leaking for a lot of our drive, too.

I am considerably distressed.  For 3 very important reasons.

1. We can’t afford some big repair job.
2. We don’t have time for the van to be in the shop as we need to leave in the morning to get to the wedding.
3.  My dad said the van would break down.  It’s why he wanted to take the car.  I hate it when he is even remotely right.

So DH and my dad leave to find a shop.  I have an anxiety attack at the hotel.  They return in a rental.  Anxiety attack becomes panic attack.  They tell us van is going to be in the shop until Tuesday.  It’s Thursday.  We weren’t even supposed to be back in Kamloops this trip.  In fact, we were supposed to be in Invermere by Tuesday.

It’s probably going to cost around the $3500 mark, too.

And I have a full blown meltdown.  I try and calculate how we could pay for it.  I try and figure out how me and DH could rent a car in the morning and go back to Calgary while my parents continue to the wedding, and we can pick it up when it’s ready and my parents trip is not too inconvenienced.  My parents insist that won’t happen.  We are all going to drive to the wedding.  They will take care of the van.

We call my inlaws with the new, revised plan.  We now have to be back in Kamloops on the 10th.  We will continue as planned making a new stop on the way home in Kamloops and picking up the kids for Invermere a day behind schedule.  My inlaws offer to help pay for the van.

And DH and I feel about 2 inches big for wrecking the trip with our crappy van and for having to rely on help from our family to pay for it.  My parents were already giving us the vacation.  Now that vacation included car rentals, extra nights and a new transmission… yup.  Feeling preeeety pathetic at this point.

So I finish my hissy fit with the help of my aunt Sue who is next-to-impossible to be miserable around because she is perpetually happy.  My almost sis in law reminds my hubby it is not his fault saving the world pays shitty. 
So avert your eyes, all, it is time for the big girl panties to come out.

We continue our drive, now in a fashionably SMALL Ford Fusion.

 Sunday morning we leave Parksville.  We head to Kelowna and spend the night, I am able to visit the church where our Pastor’s family moved to this summer (well, I mean he bought a HOUSE nearby and will WORK at the church.  He’s not moving in the Church.  It’s not a weird commune, even if it is in BC…).  We freak out the office staff a little bit.  Fun, fun stuff. 

On the 9th we leave for Kamloops.  Awesome wonderful friends of ours offer their cabin in Sicamous for us for the night while we wait for the van. 

INCIDENT #what are we at now…..5?  5

Man Cold hits.

All of us start to get sick (except DH, who never seems to).  There is sinus pain, coughing, sneezing, headaches, sore throats, lost voices (which would have been okay on my dad, but it was Suey), etc. 

A new sense of woe-is-me sets in.  The van people insist the van could not possibly be ready until 3 the next day, meaning we are driving until 1 a.m. on the 10th.  And by we, I mean DH.  He drove the whole time.  It’s better for everyone that way. 

Now, I ask, is my new transmission made of SOLID GOLD?  Because if it is not, it could not possibly be worth what was paid for it.  But it is working, and we are back on our adventure.  We roll into my In Laws just after 1 a.m.  We crawl in bed.  The next morning, it is back to the plan.  We are just one day behind.             

WE CAN STILL ENJOY THIS VACATION!

Happy news!  My brother can come too!  Spirits are higher.  And we’re off.

Much fun is had in Invermere.  The weather is pretty good, there are good times at the Beach.  Fun shopping with my ASIL (Almost Sister In Law).  A relaxing sigh is taken, even though many are still feeling sick, especially my poor aunt Suey who is probably never going to want to come back out west ever, ever again.

INCIDENT #6

2nd last day and we are leaving for coffee at Kootenay Coffee Works and no one can find the keys to the cabin.  It’s one of those crazy locks that you need a key to unlock even from the inside, so there had to be keys that morning, but nope, no keys anywhere.  ANYWHERE. 

Eventually, a new deadbolt is purchased and replaced.  It’s a good thing my dad is friends with the owner, who he calls and is not worried.  Where did they go?  Are they with my camera?  We may never, ever know.

The vacation is over and we head out.  We stop at the Lego Store for my son for his 8th birthday that day.  I think his brain might have exploded a little bit with happiness.  We spend the night at my in-laws on the way home.  And I get a call.

My Camera has been found.

And on a positive note, we head home.

See, it’s all about perspective.

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