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A Meadowlark Wake-Up Call!

At the risk of putting fear into the minds of every future Meadowlark guest, I couldn't pass up telling this story. Now mind you, NOTHING like this has EVER happened at the Meadowlark before! It is pretty much the safest place on earth. Really!

The other day as I was waking up, I glanced out of the bedroom window at the beautiful morning that was unfolding. The sun was coming up, the dew was shining off the blades of grass, the state troopers were knocking on Room 10's door. Wait, what?? OMG, George!!!! It's 6:15 and there are two state troopers in the backyard.

George went running out to see what the problem was. They were looking for someone that called about a man that was hurt. At this time, the gentleman staying in our Suite came out of his room. From the window I could see his animated arms as the story was being told. Hmmm. This doesn't look good. The troopers stayed about 10 more minutes and then left. Their case was closed.

George came back in and told me that apparently one of our guests had had a few (or dozen) too many and ended up in another guest's room at 4 am. This second guest hadn't locked their door and awoke to someone staring at them. This would have personally scared the bejezzus out of me. Note to self: always lock your door when you go to bed, always...everywhere. They both heard the bedroom door open and Lynda said to her boyfriend Bill, "Is that Frank?" (her son who was sleeping on the couch in the other room). "No it's a man...with a beard." Who would possibly stay calm in this situation, but...

All I can say is that this inebriated guest had walked in on the right person. Lynda, who definitely sprouted some angel wings this weekend, immediately got out of bed and spoke to this man. "Who are you, are you ok, where do you belong?" She said she instantly knew this man was no danger, but he was hurt, bleeding, drunk, had on only one shoe and was soaking wet from the storm that was happening outside at the time. A true angel, she wrapped him in a blanket, laid him down in front of the heater, while her boyfriend went to call 911. Because there was a storm going on at the time, the state troopers took 1 1/2 hours to arrive, so Lynda and Bill took care of this man until that time. They were able to eventually find out that he belonged here at our place and they were able to get him back to his room and back to bed.

By the time the troopers got here, the guest was back in his own room. They didn't know which room the call came from. So instead of coming and ringing our bell at the lobby, these state troopers decided to go room to room. That morning, the Meadowlark wake up call for ALL of our rooms was 6 am with two state troopers asking each individual guest, "Is everyone OK in there?" Thanks trooper guys, maybe you should have come to the lobby first.

After talking to Lynda and Bill in depth about the events that night, I realized that if it had been me, maybe I would have been too quick to judge the situation. I imagined myself screaming while I forced the intruder back out into the night. Even George's heart of gold got a little bit tarnished when Bill was telling us what happened. George's response, "I don't mean to be insensitive, but did any blood get on our carpet?" Lol. Really, George, that's your first response?

Instead, Lynda took the time to determine the real situation. I believe she quite possibly could have saved his life or prevented a serious injury. If he had passed out in that storm, who knows what could have happened to him. And the next morning, after only having four hours sleep, they never once complained about the happenings. Makes me definitely look at my life and want to be a better person. Maybe I won't be too quick to judge that middle of the night intruder. But then again, maybe that lock will always be turned to avoid any misjudgings on my part.

Walking That Tightwire Called "Friendliness"

Sometimes I never know how friendly to be with a guest. I try to read people as they come in. Maybe they want to be quiet and read the paper or a book while having breakfast. Maybe they want to know a little bit about the area. I try not to overstep my boundaries, but sometimes I go too far.

Take last week’s guests. Two very nice couples. Parents and their son and his wife. The father came in early for coffee and George and I enjoyed our morning talks with him.

I enjoyed talking with all of them but maybe a bit too much. After reading today's TripAdvisor review, I learned a few new spelling words. A five star review. Great! A nice title. Good! Our place is immaculate and comfortable with a good breakfast. Perfect!

And... friendly, gregarious. Wait, what? Oh, man, this is one of those moments I wish I had done better in English class. Well, they wrote it next to the word friendly, so it is probably a good thing. As I press the button "define" on my iPhone I am hoping it is something complimentary - "Fond of company, sociable." Phew.

But wait there's more - "perhaps even a bit garrulous."  Oh that can't be good! That just sounds insulting. As I press "define" once again, I just know this is going to be something I wish I wasn't - "Excessively talkative, especially on trivial matters." Ugh!!

Really? Oh my god, I am so going to keep quiet from now on. Sometimes when I feel a little too comfortable with people, maybe I do talk too much. But wait, he said WE were garrulous. Maybe it was George that talked too much! No, I'm sure it was me.


Oh well, for those future guests out there that find me quiet, reserved, keeping to myself... I'm not being unfriendly. I'm just trying to give you your space and not overstep my boundaries. I'm going to work at being somewhere in the middle - gregariously ungarrulous (yes, I know those aren't words!). And hopefully the next TripAdvisor review will be something like - friendly. That's it. Just friendly! With nothing next to it that I have to "define."





Ironing Out Those "Beginning of Season" Kinks!

This past Thursday George was doing some minor construction in our Suite. He was putting up kitchen cabinets and there was some construction debris in that room. We had a couple checking in for four days but they weren't arriving until Friday. Or so we thought.

That Thursday afternoon while we were in the lobby a couple walked in. "We're here!"  the husband said as they walked in. George looked at me and said "Who's here??"  I quickly ran to the computer and NO, I got it wrong. This couple was not checking in on Friday, they were checking in on Thursday, AND in the suite. That same room that, the last time I checked, George hadn't exactly finished cleaning up his construction mess.

Me, being the opposite of calm, tried to put on my best face and said that the room was just about ready and it would only be about ten minutes. As I ran as fast as I could with cleaning rags in hand to see the disaster that is Construction George, I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't anywhere as bad as I thought it would be.

As I was cleaning the room, unbeknownst to me, George was being totally upfront with our new guests. "Truth be told, Tina thought you were checking in tomorrow." Thanks George. I'll get you back tomorrow morning! This was just the first of our innkeeper faux pas that we were about to unleash on these poor people.

In the beginning of our season, there always seems to be a few kinks that we need to iron out. And this weekend, they seemed to happen all at once. To this one couple. Now I have to say that this could have been a bad TripAdvisor review waiting to happen, but somehow we all got along very well. Even after George forgot to turn their hot water heater on. That next morning Michael and Sharon did not seem to share our concern for energy savings. They actually wanted a hot shower. Strike two.

Then when they were having breakfast waiting for their water to heat up, they commented on how there was no Internet. Hmmm, maybe it had something to do with George getting annoyed with our computer the night before and shutting off the power strip that the modem was plugged into. Strike three. And yes, I threw George under the bus for both strike two and three. Now mind you, Michael and Sharon never seemed to complain about any of these things. And they had every right to.

On to strike four. The next morning Michael told me about how his Galaxy 4 turned into a remote control and this was good because the remote in the room didn't work. Ugh! I forgot to check all the remotes in the rooms to make sure they worked before we opened. There's too much to check!! Two remotes, clocks, refrigerators, microwaves, emergency lights, irons x 12 rooms. I'm exhausted already. Well, thank you crazy cell phone technology. No one wants to get up and down to change the channels! That is so 1975! 

All this (and I am probably leaving out a few things) and never once did it seem like they were complaining. I don't think this nice couple was going to let anything bother their vacation. Thank you Michael and Sharon for being so understanding. I enjoyed our morning laughs and if you happen to be back in the area, I can guarantee that there will be a room ready, hot showers, available internet, and a warm and friendly face to greet you at the door!