I have a tendency to get antsy. I get bored pretty easily and being cooped up in the house drives me batty after a while. Poor Mr. FixIt was down for the third day in a row with a virus. I fixed him tea. I made him a pot of homemade potato soup. I gave him cold meds. I tucked him in his recliner with a heating pad. I even watched a movie with him. But, as much as I dearly love the man, I had to do something else for a little bit.

I’ve been wanting to spend the night out in TOW-Wanda for some time now. Even though I camped with her up on the Ohio River this time of the year in 2015, doesn’t mean I am necessarily anxious to repeat the experience when the temperature hovers below freezing. This week is different. The temp today is supposed to get up to 70 degrees! Yesterday was a different story. Even though it was around 62 degrees out there, it was grey and foggy after a day of rain. When the rain cleared up a bit, I packed up my bag with knitting, books, my iPad, and my phone and headed out for a break in my little home on wheels.

I really miss her in the winter. I took the covers off the bedroom windows, slipped out of my shoes, and snuggled in under a pile of blankets. Once the initial chill of the cold bed began to subside, I sighed and pulled the blankets up under my chin and rolled on my side. I could hear the creek out by the road…roaring and swollen from the rain. A lone crow cawed from the tree line out at the far end of the big field. As much as I would have loved to pull out my book, or pick up my knitting…I just sank down into the memory foam mattress and let TOW-Wanda cradle me with the safe, warm feelings I always get when I spend time with her.

I thought about the cold, October rains that I drove through when I brought her to West Virginia for the first time. I remembered the sounds of the riverboats breaking through the crust of ice on the Ohio River as they carried theirs loads of coal and assorted cargo. I thought about the many times my fear and anxiety were eased when I escaped with her to the woods. She was my sanctuary. My safe haven. My diversion. My home when I really had no one in my self-appointed exile. She is where I did my best healing. Sometimes I just need to go spend some time with her.

I drifted off for just a bit and roused when it was getting dusky out. I could see the fog settling in the back field as it rose from the roadway. I smiled and thanked her for being here where I can visit anytime. It’s much better than when I had to store her away from me for the winter. I’m at a place where I am ready to work on my book again. I have accountability partners in my friends Janine and Gail. Janine reminded me yesterday it was time to get to work. My goal is 500 words a day. That ought to be a piece of cake considering I already write to you lovely people that much quite easily. TOW-Wanda is my studio, my office, my writing space. Today, I will go out and prop all my pillows around the twin bed in my slide-out, which I call my “sunroom”, and write with the windows flung open to catch the warm air. Air with the promise of spring. It’s going to be a good day. ❤️

“And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest; yes, I would wander far away; I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah”

Psalms 55:6-7 ESV