When in need

Most of the time, RVers want their privacy and respect the privacy of others. When we encounter our neighbors, we say hi and may ask where they are from or where they are headed. If it looks like someone is new to this activity and needs some help, we might go out and offer some advice. But when your yard if only six feet wide and your patio is fully visible in the next RV’s dining room, it is important to keep some distance.

Sometimes, though, an event occurs that breaks down those privacy barriers. Sunday we were eating our steaks in the trailer when a woman came to our front door and asked, “Is anyone in there? Are you home?” I went to the door as I said, “Yes, we’re here.” She told me a woman across the driveway had fallen and she wasn’t able to help her get up.

John quickly went out with her and told me to bring the cell phone. We crossed the drive to find a woman, probably in her 70s, lying on the ground at the base of the steps into her RV. She was confused and unable to sit up. John talked to her. The woman who had summoned us asked her if she was diabetic. She said she was, and the first woman said she was, too, and they discussed her blood sugar levels, medication and food intake.

I got a glass of orange juice for the fallen woman. After John ascertained that she didn’t feel she had hurt herself, she thought she had just fainted, we helped her sit up. By then the husband of the woman who had found her on the ground and a man from another trailer also had gathered. The woman who fell used her own cell phone to call her husband. We helped her up into a lawn chair. And then we stayed with her till her husband returned.

This incident broke down our privacy barriers. The next morning the woman who had found the fallen woman came out to talk to John before they left for their day’s activities. And the man from the neighboring trailer came over to see if we knew how the woman was doing. We discussed how important it is to help each other out when needed.

What we saw was that we need our privacy. But we also aren’t alone and others are there to help when someone needs it. That gives us a sense of security.