When you have a campground, it is important that an owner, manager or at the very least, an employee lives on the camp property. The ability to see the residence gives a feel of security, and accessibility to the customers. You do have to give consideration as to who that person will be, since they will be in a position to be observed by campers in their daily living habits. Off duty behavior can leave a big impression.
We have a cottage in the center of the camp by the swimming lake that was at one time a rental unit. After my husband’s youngest brother married, their parents turned the family home over to him and moved into the cabin by the lake. Not the wisest decision for an abundance of reasons, not the least of which was the fact that there was a full flight of steps which separated the kitchen & bathroom level from the bedroom and living room level. My in-laws being in their 70’s would have fared better in a ranch house. Dad however was set on living in the cabin, and whatever dad wanted mom granted.
Mom had a problem with blood pressure. I often wonder if high blood pressure is just another occupational hazard in owning a campground. It’s amazing how quickly your pressure can rise when dealing with the public on a daily basis. Not everyone is a pleasure to deal with and that includes the owner as well as the camper. There are situations that cause such a surge in pressure that I can imagine a simple bug bite at the right time and in the correct location could cause an arterial spurt causing you to bleed out where you stand.
One night, she went downstairs and blacked out, hitting her head on the concrete floor. The resulting brain hemmorrhage unfortunately aged her by about 10 years. For the most part they lived simply and quietly like most senior citizens. Occasionally, though, she would forget there were other people around.
One day, my son came rushing into the office to tell me to have his father stop grandma from hanging her laundry outside, now that they are living in the middle of the campground. Thinking his motive was embarrassment for his grandparents hanging on to old habits, and not always embracing the progress made in technology: i.e.: electric dryers, I tried to reason with him. I reminded him they are from a different generation and Grandma enjoys hanging her clothes outside and likes the way they smell after being in the fresh air. “No, she’s doing ALL her laundry”, he said. Still not comprehending what the problem might be, I answered with a “so what?’
That’s when my son made himself clear. He literally meant ALL the laundry. As in she’s not wearing clothes while hanging the wash! That facilitated a call to my husband to rush over to camp and get Granny inside and explain why she shouldn’t wait until there were no clean clothes before doing the wash. Later we had to laugh, my son claiming he thought he was going to go blind, and would probably have nightmares for the rest of his life. I guess seeing your 78 year old grandmother without clothes is not the image a 15 year old boy wants imprinted on the retina! Lucky for us it was a weekday and there were not many campers around.
Inhibitions were never to blame when it came to my husband's parents. They lived in a different time and place from which I was raised. Our cultural clashes were often used as fodder for stories from both perspectives. I find myself missing them now that they're gone but keep my fingers crossed tight that when I'm old, I'll remember to keep up with the laundry, and not give my kids anything to blog about!
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