Diary of an Innkeeper

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.