Sometimes things are hard.  Sometimes they are hard because of circumstances and sometimes they are hard because we don’t know enough and we make them hard.  And then sometimes things are frustrating, and we think they are hard when they really aren’t – they are just time-consuming or convoluted and we get frustrated that it is taking us so long to get something right.  This last week felt hard but, really, it was just frustrating and time-consuming and convoluted.

The RV has been in for repairs.  A few “major” things:  the water pump needed to be repaired, the leveling system on the jacks needed to be replaced, and there was a crack in the fiberglass that needed to be sealed (caused by the leveling system that suddenly went crazy).  Then there was a long list of minor things:  molding that had come off, screws that had come out, and some tiny light fixtures that kept fell on my head when they got warm, . . .  We are still under warranty, so we brought the RV home to it’s place of origin – Junction City Kansas.

The people at New Horizons are absolutely terrific.  They make custom RVs for people who live in them full-time and they make a quality product.  The owner, Phil Brokenicky and his sons Drew and Cole run the company and design the 5th wheels.  They know every coach and every customer and you always get personal service.  Phil helped us with an additional problem that we had that ended up taking a good part of the week (more on that in a future post).

The service people at New Horizons are also terrific.  Tony and Ken worked on our RV and went over it with us every afternoon to update us on the progress of the repairs and make sure all our concerns were met.  It is wonderful to have a water pump that actually turns off and on when it is supposed to.  And I used the auto-level system on the RV today and it didn’t plunge the RV nose-first into the ground.  Hooray!  The new LED lights in the slide are much brighter and won’t fall on my head.  The molding is all solidly in place.  Last night we were done and moved out of the service bay, ready to depart this morning.

But today has been a day of should haves but aren’t.  Several times I reminded myself that these were very minor problems and nothing compared to what many people have to put up with every day.  Today was really a 0 on the 1 to 10 hardship list.  Frustrating – yes.  Not hard.

First we went to a donut shop to buy donuts for the great crew here at New Horizons – to say thank you for all their work this week.  The donut shop wasn’t open.  So we picked up some donuts at the grocery store.  We delivered the donuts to the break room where they immediately disappeared into the hands of the guys who work here.  Then we got a call that we needed to sign some papers.  We got to the place we thought we were supposed to go to sign the papers and it was closed.  The sign said they were open, but the door was locked and the lights were out.  Turns out we were one building over.  We got the papers signed and headed back to New Horizons.

We hooked up the RV and got ready to pull out, only to find out that we didn’t have any trailer brakes.  Yes, we have a big truck, but we pull an RV that weighs 20,000 pounds and we weren’t going anywhere until we got the trailer brakes fixed.  Even though the service guys had started on their next job, they made our lack of brakes a priority.  They figured out the problem (not a big enough load on the line) and the solution and explained it all very thoroughly to Tom.  Then they fixed it.  I spent the time talking to another full-time couple in the waiting room and really enjoyed our conversation.

But by the time the service guys were finished, a freezing drizzle had started and thick fog was rolling in.  If we left we would have gotten to Kansas City just in time for rush hour.  We have driven through Kansas City twice during rush hour and you really want to avoid it if possible.  So we decided to stay in Junction City one more night to let the weather and the traffic clear before loading up and heading back to Ohio.

Some things are hard – but this wasn’t.  It was just frustrating.  It was just one of those should haves but aren’t days.  One of those days that remind us that God is in control and we aren’t.  And it is okay.