The Circus Tent

For a quarter of a century, we have gone camping every summer with our good, good friends.

We have enjoyed our time in the Great Canadian Woods.

Visiting and laughing around the campfire.

Chopping wood.

Sharing meals.

Watching our children grow.

And our numbers increase.

Seeing our grandchildren introduced to 'nature'.

And seeing our hair get a little greyer and our steps a little slower.

Now, when we go, there is generally just the four of us.

And we still spend the time talking and laughing.

And reminiscing.

I wouldn't miss it for the world.

Recently, our friends have had a new addition.

I should mention, here, that when we camp, we do so with few luxuries.

Each of us has always used a little tent trailer.

And that is the extent of our amenities.

Moving on . . .

The 'new addition' I spoke of was a 'new to them' tent trailer.

Many, many years younger than the old one (aka: The Circus Tent).

And . . . not quite as brightly coloured.

Their Circus Tent ended up in our back yard, awaiting a new owner.

For some time, we deliberated what to do.

Advertised.

Made phone calls.

With little or no progress.

Finally, my Husby shoved the little trailer through our back gate and onto the boulevard.

Then he put a sign on it which read, “Please Take Me Home – Free!”

An hour later, the little trailer was gone.

Mission accomplished.

But that isn't the end of the story.

Yesterday, as our first snow flew, we deemed it time to place our own trailer into its winter habitat.

Carefully, my Husby was manoeuvring it into the back yard.

As he got out to close the gate, a young man appeared in the opening.

“Excuse me!” he said.

My Husby smiled at him. “Yes?”

“Are you the person who put the little tent trailer out on the boulevard last spring?”

Uh-oh. “Umm . . . yes.”

“Well, my wife and I saw it there and took it home,” the young man said.

“Oh?”

“Yes. We fixed it up. Painted it. And took it camping with our young children this summer.”

“Oh!”

“Our family had the best time! It kept us safe and dry and worked perfectly.”

“I'm so glad!”

“And we've been driving past here every day since, hoping to see someone that we can thank.”

“Oh.”

He put out his hand. “Thank you,” he said. “We wouldn't have been able to afford one any other way. We just wanted to let you know that your gift was very much used. And very much appreciated.”

My Husby shook the proffered hand and waved as the little family drove away.

For over a quarter of a century we have gone camping in the Great Canadian Woods.

We have loved it.
We didn't charge anything for the little tent trailer.

But we still got a paycheck.