Thursday 14 April 2011

Peace, Love and Marital Discord

Last summer this innocent looking vw camper van....the symbol a peace and love....was the cause of a huge rift between my husband and I.  Every time we see a camper van Scott says "someday I'm going to own one of those".  I thought he meant "someday" like my "someday"...."someday I'm going to lose 10 pounds", "someday I'm going to organize all our closets", but he didn't....he meant "someday"....like REALLY someday.  It started innocently enough, we attended a Canada Day parade in a nearby town and there were several antique cars there on display so we walked around and looked at them all, and their was a vw camper van very similar to the one pictured...and it was FOR SALE.  Scott took down the phone number...and called the person selling it, and told me he thought we should buy it.  

Now when Scott pictured this camper van in our possession, he dreamed of hitting the open road, carefree, stopping at little private beaches, having lunch at scenic picnic sites and spending the night...at quaint campsites, cozy in our little self-contained bus.  I on the other hand....pictured us broken down on the side of a highway at the mercy of whatever psychopath stopped by to "help us" or stranded in some "Deliverance"-like town waiting for an obscenely-priced foreign part to repair our "antique".  Ok, maybe my pessimistic Scottish heritage is showing, or maybe I'm a realist...either way I was not about to win " supportive wife of the year".  

We had a few tense days....then he reconsidered and decided maybe we should compromise and buy a more modern, reliable truck that we could eventually get a small camper for...and in the meantime we could use the truck as second vehicle.  I felt relieved....but that was quickly replaced by guilt.  You know when you things go your way...and you're happy...but then you feel a bit guilty?  I imagined us being a little old couple, sitting on porch and him telling me his only regret was not buying the camper van....and that each day we would be eating breakfast and I would think everything was great....but he would be feeling resentful...and maybe spitting in my coffee when I left the room (ok, I've also been accused of thinking too much...along with being pessimistic).

Anyway shortly after this episode...it was his birthday...so I was inspired to make him a beer mug...

I put a camper van on it....and made a few extra to sell.  They are quite popular and have sold really well...maybe there are a few other people out there with "camper van dreams".  


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