MANAGING EXPECTATIONS: ALLOWING THE GOOD

Like many people did when COVID-19 hit, we purchased an RV. But while our purchase happened during a seemingly never-ending shutdown of travel, it wasn’t a panic purchase in the face of an uncertain future. Ours was a long-time dream grown out of roots from deep memories. So ultimately, for me, the challenge wasn’t the purchase itself. The challenge was allowing the trips we would take with our RV to fall short of my expectations—and then learning to see that they were still absolutely everything we wanted (and needed).

I grew up in a family of five, where summers began when we cranked up a rickety pop-up camper roof on whatever military base campsite we had booked. We’d see flocks of Canadian geese stopping on their flight north in May, and again on their way south in September. After a few