Moving Within the Park

Sometime during our 3 week at Fair harbor we decided that we were going to be there for longer than we had originally thought. Realizing this and wanting us all to feel more comfortable I was beginning to consider moving us to the long term section of the park.

John hadn't left the camper since arriving in Georgia except for at night when people really couldn't see him. His social anxiety was in full swing and the thought of going out in the day would make him ill.

So I took a walk down to the long term area and began scouting out possible lots. After seeing what was available I was torn between two spots. I returned to the camper and all but dragged John down with me to take a look. We decided and after returning John to our camper I walked up to the office to check and see if we could move. They told me that this was not a problem at all. So we all packed up the camper and moved it down to a new lot.

The long term section of the campground was far back into the campground and felt quieter and more secluded. John even seemed to feel more comfortable here, as he would now sit out at the picnic table on occasion.

On our 3rd day in the long term section the kids met some folks who lived a few campers over. These folks sent up a bag of food for us and I was concerned that the kids might have told them that we were struggling, so I went down to meet them myself.

As it turned out, they were just trying to be kind to the new folks. Leigh, the wife, told me that when they first started out they struggled and now she tried to help when she could. The kids had said nothing, she just "knows how it is".

Leigh and I quickly became friends. I spent some time visiting with she and her husband Jeff and immediately liked them both. I went up to the camper and spent 20 minutes convincing John to come meet them. He finally agreed to come out, more to shut me up than anything. He immediately liked them as well and he and Jeff became fast friends.

Over the next month that we stayed at Fair Harbor, we spent many nights around a campfire at their camper. We spent many nights sharing meals and talking. Jeff and John played horseshoes a few times, when John could physically handle it. And Leigh and I did a lot of running errands together.

We were beginning to feel comfortable with our new lives, but things were soon to change.