Chance of storms north of us, they said. The storm line will dissipate, they said. And, like with so many weather occurrences, the weather doesn’t actually behave as predicted.

I watched the storm line building, last Saturday night, as we prepared to get in our camper for the night. We did what we were supposed to do; we prepared our campsite and buckled down for the possibility of wind and rain. I gave our sweet dog a calming pill because she’s incredibly anxious during storms. And we both hoped that just maybe the weather predictions were right and the storms would lessen.

Instead, just after midnight, high winds hit the state park where we were camping. The first thing to go was our dining canopy; it eventually tumbled in a mangled mess about forty feet away from where it had originally been staked to the ground. We weren’t able to do anything about it, despite trying to break it down and save it before it was completely destroyed; strong winds and rain pushed us back into the camper. Hubby spent most of the next two hours fighting the winds and holding down other parts of our camp outside. I kept an eye on radar while taking care of things inside our small vintage camper and comforting the dog.

Over two hours later, the winds and heavy rain stopped, leaving more peaceful rain in its wake. At morning light, prepared for the worst, we both went outside to see exactly what we’d have to clean up, mend, replace. Fortunately for us, the worst of the damage was the dining canopy; it was bent and broken beyond recovery. But everything else? Even things we expected to be damaged because we hadn’t been able to take care of everything in the camp made it through the storms just fine.

There are just times in life where you can see the storms coming and there just isn’t much you can do to avoid them. You can plan, prepare, and accept that there will be some damage. You can console yourself that you’ve been through this before, and face the storm, but the outcomes aren’t always predictable.

Take the next night, for instance. Nearly the same scenario; the weather had been nice all day, but just before the sunset, storms fired up and headed toward the same spot on the lake. Granted, we had less to worry about; the canopy had already been trashed the night before, and items we moved previously were still safe, so we prepared as we could. I admit that I ad to sigh and think “not again!” as I gave my dog another calming pill and then sat out under the camper awning and screen tent, waiting. Despite preparing, though, hubby was in another area of camp, and I held down the awning poles against the gusts of wind and rain as they hit.

Ten minutes later, just as hubby managed to run back to camp, it was over. And we were treated to the most beautiful sunset I’ve seen in a very long time.

Sometimes, the storms aren’t what you think they will be, and you end up with something special afterward.

In regards to my journey, I have spent so many years imagining and fretting over the storms I knew would come if I chose to try again to lose weight, but I only thought I knew what was ahead of me. Instead, standing and fighting through has given me rewards I couldn’t begin to imagine — including simple things like camping.