Can You Stay In A Joyful Place No Matter What Happens To You?

Is it possible to keep your joy no matter what change or disappointment may come in your life?

What is the saying, you’re not going to steal my joy mean? For me, it means exactly what it says. When I lost my home in 2018 due to Hurricane Florence. It was a devastating experience. In less than 24 hrs everything we had worked for was gone. All our furniture, two cars, clothes, family pictures, history, great times. You name it we lost it. One day when we were looking for a place, my husband and myself We live in NC. My sister called me from Florida and stated that she had just purchased a home in NC. How would I with my husband like to come and stay with her? Being that I lived in NC. That to me was the best news ever. Once we got settled in our new home. Around 4 months later my sister-in-law asked me who also lives in NC. If I wanted to come and work for her and my brother, her husband. I said yes.

My brother and his wife own and operate an RV campground. Way back in the day before it was called back in the day. My great, great, great grandfather who just happened to be a slave managed to buy 80 acres. He paid $1 for each acre. Fast forward to the present day the land is still in the family. It can’t be sold. It has to stay in the family. Being that I had some experience with working with my family in the past at this campground I said, cool I would love to work with you. Being the cheapskates that they are I knew I wouldn’t be making a whole lot of money so I figured at that time being that my husband and myself were starting over. A little bit of money is better than no money. It was a joyful moment for me. I was happy to be contributing to taking some of the pressure off of my husband and helping my brother and his wife at the same time. Joyful!

Over the next couple of months, I would be very happy to get up and go to work knowing I would be just 15 minutes away from home enjoying working with family. Well, after six or seven months I got fired off. No explanation or anything. Fired. This went on for about 2 years worked a couple of months and then would get fired for a couple of months. Beverly, my sister-in-law would say, we don’t need you anymore. Or you're fired. No reason, no explanation. Every time I would keep going back.

In all honesty, It was cool working a couple of months and then having a couple of months off. Joyful! Doing it this way worked out for me because I was making no money for the work I was doing. Not that that easy. I made it look easy. At my age. I came out of retirement thinking I would be helping my family. Joyful!

It was funny because every time I came back my sister-in-law would say, Beverly, your a God sent. I am so glad you are here. I don’t know what I would do without you. She was showing her joy. The joy of having me there to help her was such a wonderful thing for her. That’s what would go through my head. One might ask. “Why did you keep going back?” Well, besides the fact that they are family. Both of these people have serious health issues. Especially my brother. He has a seriously weak heart and other health issues. My sister-in-law has Fibromyalgia. In spite of that, she is great at what she does managing the campground and making the campers feel comfortable. I have learned a lot from her. We’ve had some very joyful moments.

Kicking it at the house back in my retirement mode. I got a phone call asking me to come back to the park and help out. I agreed. Since my brother-in-law would be leaving to go overseas with the military. I knew they would need the help.

About the campground. They run a small RV campground. It has only 27 sites. With 3 tiny houses and a glamping pod which is smaller than a tiny house. It has a queen-size bed, bathroom complete with sink and shower. A mini-refrigerator and microwave. Mini kitchen area with utensils a Keurig coffee maker. A heater and an air conditioner complete with a nice size flatscreen.

The tiny houses have all of the above just at a bigger size. The money that is made here is absolutely crazy. My family has been running this business for 13 plus years and counting. There are times where they make $40, 000 a month between the campers and the renters. It has a huge turnover. With my sister inlaws wonderful personality and this park being the quietest park in America. People just flock to it. Covid has not affected their business at all. If anything business has improved. What a joyful thing.

Just recently the campground made the list of campgrounds that would be in the tour of campgrounds in NC. happening in Nov. of 2021.

I have always been the type of person who never hates on another person's success. If God bless you He would also bless me. That is how I see it. Working for my family at $10 an hour is no big deal to me because. I have other streams of income. Joyful!

Now they are trying to steal my joy!

1. A couple of months ago my sister-in-law and my brother went on a vacation and stayed gone a whole week. Before they left my brother said to me he would offer me $600 dollars to campground sit. By the time they came back the $600 dwindled down to $400. Mind you, they owed me $1,680. I never complained. Right before this RV tour was headed our way. My brother fell in the kitchen of his home. They live on the campground premises. He couldn’t get off of the floor. I was in another room when my sister-in-law screamed my name. I came running. In all the years I have known her she never yelled like that before. The man looked dead. We managed to get him up and put him to bed. I was wondering why she didn’t call 911. Her being a retired nurse you would think that is what she would do. I figured she knows best Not to mention that they both are diabetics. Two days later around 2:00 in the morning, he fell again. This time she called 911 because she couldn’t get him off of the floor. Come to find out he broke his hip. Because his heart is so bad. They transferred him to a hospital 80 miles away. That means his wife would have to take a ride. Now I have to work an extra 24 hours.
2. I would be responsible for answering the phones. Checking people in and out. Make sure the tiny houses and glamping pot are cleaned. Making sure the bathhouses are clean, taking care of two spoiled dogs, and not so spoiled two cats. In two days the tour was supposed to take place. My brother who was so excited about the tour for the last 4 months was not going to be able to attend, I am sure he was hurt. For the record, the operation was a success. Thank God for that. Tour day rolled around and two huge busloads of people came to inspect the campground. My sister-in-law, my brother’s best friend, and his wife including myself gave the tour. Mind you I had never given a tour before. I spoke on what I knew. For a bunch of snooty people who had their nose turned up when they first arrived. By the time they left, they were laughing, smiling, and were very pleased with their visit. That told us we did well. A very joyful experience.
3. After everyone left it was time for me to get paid. Couldn’t find the checkbook. So I decided to come back the next day and get the rest of my money. See, before I left the night before my sister-in-law had given me some cash. From the time she went to visit my brother in the hospital and on her return. I was owed $750. She kindly told me that I was not going to get that much money. I did receive $120 the night before and an additional $500 the next day. In all, I received $620 being owed $750. Did I forget to mention that while laying in a hospital bed recovering from a hip replacement procedure? You would think he would be thanking God for still being on this side of the dirt. Not him! He was telling his wife to drop my pay from $10 an hour to $8 an hour. Did I forget to mention that this RV park makes at least $40,000 a month so I heard. On a slow month, they might make $25,000 so I heard. All this and wanting to cut my pay. One day I’m the best thing since ice cream. And the next. I am fired. Three days after he came home, could barely walk. Leaning on me to keep his balance on the way to the bedroom, I get fired.
4. I didn’t let him get to me. I wasn’t hurt or even got mad. I kept my peace and refused to let him or his wife steal my joy. My other family members were more upset than I was. They told me to never go back again. Have some dignity. Don’t let them treat you like this.
5. I said I was not going to let them steal my joy. Give it to God. Maybe this was supposed to happen. I am now in a position to have something better come along. In life when bad things happen that you have no control over. You must remember it’s 10% of what happens to you and 90% of how you handle it. I choose not to let them steal my joy.

This little story might not be important to anyone but me. Being that this is my first post on the Medium platform. I decided to get it out of my system in this manner. I figure by posting it on this platform would be a whole lot better than getting upset and acting a fool. This way my joy stays intact and no one gets to steal it. Also, who knows I might be preventing someone from getting their joy stolen.

Just saying!