RVing, Revitalized My Mother and Daughter
Relationship! BY ANGELA HUNTLEY, BOOK PUBLISHER Obviously, the year 2020 is different from any year that we have ever experienced. There have been some real challenging times from finding modified ways to conduct business, to cancelled travel plans, and even quarantine. If we were told at the beginning of the year that we would spend months working from home and having to go out wearing a mask, I’m willing to bet none of us would have believed it. I certainly would not have. But one thing that was most unexpected was the time we would spend away from our friends and especially from close family members. I was not prepared to spend several weeks away from my mother. Ours is more than a mother and daughter relationship. We are friends. We talk and get along like friends, but then we also can get on each other nerves like friends. But we both feel that spending time together is invaluable. Not only do we talk on the phone several times a day, but we were in the habit of spending time together doing every day-life things like going out to lunch, running errands, or just taking a drive to get out of the house. So, when the quarantine first happened, I did not understand or realize the ramifications it would have on my time spent with my mother. Because COVID-19 was and still is, a mystery. We thought it would be wise to be on the side of caution by staying inside and away from people as much as possible. This limited our time together to just talking with each other from a distance as I dropped off groceries to her place. It was weird seeing my mother and standing so far away from her. But we both were doing what we thought was best to keep each other safe. After several weeks went by and we learned a little more about how the virus could spread. We learned that by staying 6 to 8 feet away, wearing a mask to
prevent droplets from spreading and frequently washing our hands, we could safely be together. So, one day we went out for an RVing excursion, which is a passion we both share. It all started back in the 90s when my mother was the first one in the family to discover this form of travel and introduced it to my kids when they were little. At that time, I did not understand it. I had absolutely no desire to travel inside of an RV. But as I got older, I realized that RV travel was a wonderful way to get the entire family together for a grand adventure. So, we broke ranks with the “shelter in place” restrictions and took a mother and daughter ride out in my RV. However, since we were still being responsible inside the RV, we had enough room for social distancing. It was so nice to be out of the house for a change of scenery, but most importantly being able to spend time with my mother like we used to. We laughed and enjoyed the breeze all the way down the highway. We didn’t have a particular destination, nor did we have any activities planned when we got there, but we enjoyed the trip, anyway. We drove about 20 minutes outside of our city to a rest stop and then turned around and came back. It felt like we had been on a vacation! My point in sharing this story is to demonstrate how important it is to connect with your mother and daughter, especially through these challenging times. Sometimes just a small gesture like taking a walking in a park or watching a television program together can make a world of difference in helping you stay connected. Yes, it’s true COVID-19 has interrupted 2020, in many ways, but it doesn’t have to interrupt your mother and daughter relationship, which will be here for a lifetime. www.mdbn.org
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