We spent the entire month of August (and more) living in hotels as we waited to find and close on our home. I could give you a run down of where to stay and where not to stay in traveling across the U.S. and in the Memphis area. But that isn’t what this post is about.
The last hotel we ended up in for several weeks was Home 2 Suites by Hilton in Olive Branch Mississippi. Living in a hotel for weeks on end is hard in any circumstances. Add to it that you have 4 people and 2 dogs living in the same small room, and one of them has special needs. . . It has been an experience. My kids no longer think it would be fun to live in a hotel.
Through our house buying process we had several hiccups that were unusual and frustrating.
There were times where I was on the point of despair that we would be able to pull off buying a house.
And then came breakfast time at the hotel. Often, I would have the kids eat breakfast, take them to school and come back and have my own quiet breakfast. On one of those days when I despaired of being able to cross the next hurdle that had arisen. I was talking with one of the other guests and a staff member of the craziness and how I just couldn’t find a way through. The other guest said to me, “It’s already done Baby. You just got to believe.” That was exactly what I needed to hear in that moment to be able to press forward.
Our mornings as I have written about before are hard and exhausting. An employee of Home 2 Suites, Tonni Carter, made them immeasurably better.
There are a lot of us living in the hotel for an extended period. All for various reasons. Tonni greets each of us with a smile, asks us how we are and does her utmost to serve us. And by “serve us”, I don’t just mean serving us breakfast. She serves us all. Listening to our problems and heartbreaks. She tells our children to hurry themselves up or they are going to be late for school when you are busy getting your own meal. Tonni watches out for them and makes sure they behave. She greets us with a hug and treats us as her family. It’s not that she doesn’t have troubles of her own. She has a gift that I hope her place of employment appreciates. She makes living in a hotel more like home.
In the parenting world, we talk a lot about needing a village to raise a child. Yet often, we wonder, “Where is that village?” We can’t seem to find it.
I am walking away a changed person. I have seen my village and what I need to do to create it from the example set by this wonderful woman.
A hotel is not the place I expected to find my village. Yet it has been that. And in this difficult month of our lives, I am so grateful for the people like Tonni who have been my village. Who have cared for us, shined a light of hope and helped us hold on.
*I was not in any way compensated for this post. The opinions in it are my own.
