you're never stranded when a neighbor is home

So, I knew it would happen someday. I knew we should have left a spare with the neighbors, or hidden one near the shed or something. But we didn't, and I did it. I stood outside in 4 inches of fresh snow, with both house and car keys locked inside our trailer. Oops.

Thankfully, it ended up just being funny...and almost fun. A neighbor came over and helped me in a valiant attempt to break in, until I finally called a friend and asked if she'd drop me off at a coffee shop to work on things until a roommate got home. My neighbor and I stuck bobby pins in the lock, pried off screens, and tried random keys. No luck. One of our friends in the trailer park is an ex-con, convicted for grand theft auto; I have decided that my next request of him will be that he teach me to pick a lock. Maybe he could teach me to hotwire my truck, too. A handy skill, if you ask me.

Goofy incidents aside, I have been battling another hurdle of trailer life this week. Sharing meals--mostly, accepting those lovingly offered to us--is a huge part of our relationship with our neighbors. It is a crucial part of the take that allows us to freely give. Meals are simply one of the most important aspects of community in our lives now. Unfortunately, the meals are not exactly on the healthy side, nor are the offered portions small. This has meant a little weight gain for me, which can be a crushing thing for a girl in her 20's. I am not one of those young folks with a magic metabolism. I have to work hard to stay fit. So what do I do when maintaining relationship threatens that? What do I do with the fact that those relationships are far more important in the long run, no matter how much I struggle with the effects or feel terrible about how I look? It's just another example of roadblocks I never would have seen coming. So many things I thought would bother me seem more like joy than struggle. Others that I never could have anticipated cause great frustration.

Even with the frustration, the increased sharing and comfort around one another is beautiful. I love to gather around a table (or, at our house, whatever you can find to sit on) and eat, talking about life inside the park and out. I love sharing hearts over homemade lasagna and pie. In the end, it really does matter more than what the mirror says.