Date:                           August 18, 2008

Location:                    Grand Island, NY

1000

            Another week of our tenure at the KOA has receded into history and we are still trying to make plans for the winter.  Being a free life styled full timer can be very taxing on someone that is not the world’s greatest at making plans.  I do know that we are going to be on the east coast or maybe the west coast.  Of course there is always the chance that we might be in the desert in Arizona or mid Texas someplace.  Having so many options can be a challenge.

            Yesterday we received a call from a past NOMAD team mate and he implored that we think seriously about coming to Phoenix and work at the UMOM facility there.  It is under going some major changes and he thought that we might love being in on the growth process.  We have also received a note form another team member that wants us to come to Florida and join a team that will be working on building new church in Umatilla.  All of these plans sound great on some level and yet we have not the slightest idea which way to head this beast when we do decide to leave New York.  Life is an adventure and it is great to have choices.  It may be confusing, but it is great.

            We also have a phone meeting scheduled with Sally Phillips on Wednesday.  Sally was our campground manager in Santa Cruz at the Monterey KOA.  Keep your hats on; you never know what we are going to do.  By the way, we are also expected to be in Stone Mountain, Georgia for the fall and maybe winter of this coming year.  That is if they ever get their collective heads together and decide what and where they might need us.  Boredom is not an option.

            This week end we had a Family Olympics competition at our KOA. It was in honor of the profession competition masquerading as an amateur gathering in China.  Ours was much lower key and I hope more meaningful.  Each family received a score card with a list of events to be completed and scored on the team’s own honor.  They had to do things like walk or run, bike, visit Fantasy Island and jump on our jumping pillow.  The secret was for families to play together and enjoy each other.  The plan worked extremely well and many of the families took it upon themselves to personally thank us for our efforts.  It was cool to see families enjoying each other’s company.

            At our awards ceremony, which was not really an awards ceremony, we gave out prizes for participation.  It was kind of mystical how every team seemed to win something and it was never relevant to the score that they tallied on their submitted score cards.  We still had many smiles and happy athletes and that is really what we were attempting to achieve.

            As one family was leaving the hall with their bundle of prizes I told one of he little competitors that there was a secret connected with the whole Family Olympic weekend.  I explained to him that it did not matter what the final score was on the score sheet.  It was more important that he had had fun and that he had spent the weekend playing with his whole family in some new games and athletic endeavors.  He kind of looked at me like I was from the planet GAGA.  His father smiled and thanked me full heartedly for the effort we had placed in making this a wonderful weekend for him and his family.

            There were families with smiles, families laden with prizes and a recreation team very satisfied; it was a good weekend.  It was a busy weekend at times but it was a good weekend.

Wfdo2@msn.com

Date:                           August 11, 2008

Location:                    Grand Island, NY

1000

The rain of a wet New York summer is pelting our home as I gaze out my window into the grey funk of a depressing day.  It is a mystery how Mother Nature can mimic your inner attitude by her manifestations of weather.  Yes, I must admit that there is a bit of rainy funk clouding my perceptions of life at this very moment.  I am not sure if the weather is placing me in the doldrums of a self imposed depression, or if life has presented that to me on her silver platter.  No mater what or why, life seems to be full of clouds this morning.  I can only hope that the weather is better in your world.

            Our summer is coming to a slow but eventual end at the Grand Island KOA.  I would be less than honest if I tried to tell you that everything went just as well as we had planned and hoped it would.  It has not been a bad summer, but it has been less than it could have been.  The economy has been against us as we attempt to serve within the travel and summer enjoyment industry.  Families have been hard pressed to find enough money to pay for camping, food, entertainment and gas for their vehicles.  This fact of economics 101 has been very evident in the business at our summer home.  Budgetary restraints and reality has caused the KOA Corporation to cut back on expenses and the first area of sacrifice seems to be customer services.  At least as we see it from our narrow minded perspective.  It is difficult to justify spending money on a customer experience whose returned value is not shown on a business ledger somewhere.  Accountants can sum up camper nights, income per camper night and expenses related to such, but they do not see, nor can they evaluate the smiles on a child’s face as they hand mom or dad a new memo pad that they just made themselves in Arts & Crafts.  Nor can a corporation evaluate the value of the returned smile of happy parent as they receive the treasured gift.  Smiles and hugs do not appear on the balance sheet.  It is a sad but true reality.

            As Connie and I sit in our self imposed funk of grey depression we are attempting to make plans for our winter and the portending summer that lurks on the horizon.  Where that will take us is still to be determined.   One can only hope that it will be into fair weather and brighter days.  We are fair-weather people and at this geriatric age I refuse to apologize for that attitude.  It is not that we demand fair weather for ourselves, all though we do enjoy it.  We would rather find a manner in which we can help direct other people to a few moments of bright sun and warmth in their lives.  It may be a craft made that can be shared or a newly repaired door on their home.  In either case we, truly, just want to make their lives a little bit better for the honor of allowing us to share a few moment of their life with them.  We are not interested in finding that that value did not tally on a ledger someplace, nor are we waiting for a superfluous amount of pats on the back.  We simply desire to be of use to someone and to be appreciated by them for the effort that we graciously offer.  It is a simple wish, but one that is increasing difficult to achieve.

            The clouds have gotten even thicker, the sun has retreated even further into a sequestered hiding place and my mode is all the greyer as I finish my daily blog.  We have made no permanent decision on our future plans, but I have updated my blog, such as it is.

            If life, or the weather, has you in a grey funk or if you are wrapped in the warmth of a beautiful day, either internally or externally let us know.  Maybe we can share a new cure for “Grey Funk.”  Often a single ray of blue sky and warm sunlight can illuminate a new perspective.  Any new perspective, right now, might be a good thing on a rainy day, on a clay rock in the m idle of a river, which is really a straight, between to great lakes.

Wfdo2@msn.com