Glad To Be Home, Where Are We Going Next

Home at last. Our month-long travels ended after dumping everything out of Clarabelle the Campervan onto the driveway, putting away perishables and letting the dogs out into their own backyard. They ran zoomies for a while, lapped up fresh water and then walked the fence line alerting potential intruders (in the way animals do) that they were back.

Home is where we are most comfortable being ourselves. Cook (or don’t) whatever or whenever you feel noshi. It’s okay to leave a few dishes in the sink for later (we don’t have a dishwasher) or leave toiletries—toothbrushes, hairbrush, wrinkle cream—on the bathroom vanity. Why put everyday stuff away when it will be used again sometime soon.

Mr. Right and I love traveling to see family, and we follow the unwritten rules for visitors. When staying with a family member be as unobtrusive as possible and do not outstay your welcome. Eat what is served and like it. Buy groceries. Offer to cook. Or take them out for a nice meal. Never talk about politics. Shoes go under the bed on which we sleep. Dishes are placed in the dishwasher instead of being left in the sink. And, when cleaning up your own dogs’ poop in someone else’s backyard, you might as well scoop someone else’s dog’s poop, too. I vacuum before departing, also.

And loved ones, according to proper etiquette, also have a duty to be on their best behavior, but many times go too far. Their home is spotless. Nothing on the kitchen counters, not an appliance or a crumb, just a vase of fresh flowers. The carpet has perfectly parallel vacuum lines. No wet ring stain on the coffee table. No pet hair to be found, not even dust bunnies under the bed. I checked. The TV remote is in plain sight. C’mon, really?

That doesn’t mean it’s terrible to visit loved ones. Invitations are always welcome and, if we’re healthy and able, we will travel. Sometimes, when we visit family, we sleep in Clarabelle instead of in the home. Some people don’t want pets in their home, and that is fine with us. Sometimes our big dog Teddy doesn’t get along with other dogs. Clarabelle is equipped with a comfortable queen-size mattress, so we are happy to sleep in the van with the dogs. Both are rescue dogs with abuse issues and separation anxiety from before we adopted them. If left to their own devices in the campervan, we don’t know what we’d find (if anything) after a night alone. Nope. We’re good sleeping in Clarabelle.

Home sweet home. It was a wonderful adventure full of family fun and outdoors, but it’s always best to come home, even to our tiny home. We kicked our shoes off and left them near the front door. Later, we’d cook something from the freezer in our kitchen sans dishwasher. Mr. Right and I flopped back onto our bed and exhaled, “Ahhhhh,” at the same time.

“It’s great to be home,” he told me.

I turned and smiled, “Where are we going next time?”