Disaster Moves You Forward

Yesterday was a day that started in disaster.

With great anticipation I gathered the boxes of tent poles and contact lenses that had arrived the day before- the last two items on my "big item" checklist. If you've been following along you know I've been giving an inordinate amount of time and energy to thinking about my tent. What you don't know is the contacts have been backordered for weeks and I am down to my last two pair. Great, I thought. I am in business.

I opened the contacts box first. I'd had them shipped overnight at great expense (relatively speaking), and was surprised to find they were for the wrong eye. I called the company as soon as they opened- spoke with a very pleasant rep who said I could ship them back and once they were received they would send the other eye. Timewise that's a non-starter.

We went back and forth, with me becoming ever more confused about why they sent the wrong eye. I felt stuck.

Next, the tent. I have worked to rehab the one I have, in part because it has good reviews online and also because Greg thinks the world of it. I grabbed the new poles, eager to test them out. Spoiler alert- the new poles did not fit, being 3" too long. And in checking the length against the one good pole, I found that said "good pole" was also broken. I made a call to Tammy at Johnson Outdoors for next steps. Full disclosure- she was wonderful and was flummoxed as to why they weren't the right size. She had me dig inside the tent to find the lot number- and low and behold, the tent was from 2008, not the 2011 version I had told her. I asked about the life span of a tent- she said it was about 8 years. I said out loud "Then why am I even bothering to try to make this work?" to which she said "I can give you a discount on a new tent" which I declined but thanked her anyway.

I'll admit it was all a bit overwhelming. I was in the muck, ready to cry. I had a few minutes of pity party followed by a new resolve. I went back to the contacts prescription and remembered I'd actually had to go back for a newer prescription earlier this year. I dug that one out and sent the correct information to Contacts Direct. I'm happy to wait for my refund- just give me sight without glasses, please.

I then headed out the door to get my Covid booster (#3), followed by a trip to LLBean where one tent was too small (and pretty expensive) and one was too big. I trudged on to REI in Westbrook where George hooked me up with a Half Dome 2+. I am NOT looking at reviews- I have made my decision and used what I know about what makes a good tent for me. I've set it up twice this morning and it's goes up and down easily. It will work.

All this before the booster slapped me upside the head and gave me crazy fever dreams all night. Tomorrow will be a better day.

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