No Vacancy

The first full week of 2020 has come and gone and so have our first visitors for the year.

If you've been reading here very long, you know Ryan and I have a handful of not-so-secret dream careers, and one of them involves hospitality life. So whenever we get the chance to practice hospitality, we soak it in! And this week gave us that chance.

We have some friends who live out of state and have stopped to stay with us en route to their destination before. They checked with us a few days ago to see if our guest room would be open for another visit, and we were delighted to say yes!

I scurried around to prep their space and make it as comfortable and welcoming as possible. Walked in a bit later to find Braeya curled up on the bed, so I must have succeeded. I grounded her from the room so it wouldn't be utterly undone by the time our guests arrived. (She likes to unmake beds by rooting under the covers until she's comfortable.)

They arrived Thursday evening, not long after we got home from work. I had planned ahead for an enchilada dinner and had assembled them just before our guests pulled in the driveway. We had time for them to unload their luggage and settle in before dinner finished baking. We all gathered around our little table for enchiladas, salad, chips and salsa, and some cranberry bliss bars for dessert. (Ryan put on his barista hat and made a latte for them, too!)

My first full week of work (following an insanely busy and not-so-rest-filled weekend) had almost defeated me by the end of the week, so I won't even pretend I was the best hostess that night. I will fully admit to falling asleep on the couch while we all watched episodes of the Jeopardy! tournament featuring all the super-smarties. But that's one of many things I love about these friends: we are just ourselves around each other. If we conk out on the couch, it's okay.

Some of you already saw this story on Facebook, but for those of you who missed it, I'll fill you in. Before Ryan and I went to bed that night, I told our friends if they needed anything at all, they could just knock on our bedroom door. At 5:00 in the morning, I heard a knock. Knowing they would only knock at that hour if it involved an emergency, I flew out of bed and ran to the door, heart pounding. I opened it and there sat Braeya, at my feet. She turned around and trotted to her food bowl, looking back at me with her Wanna watch me eat? face. I'm sure you can imagine my amusement.

Our friends got up at a respectable human hour and left for their destination the next morning, after filling up on the coffee and blueberry scones we left behind for them.

They returned for their second stay on Saturday evening, and though we so rarely do this when we have guests, we went out for a double-date dinner that night. We took them to Prodigy, the newer place in town with all the great burgers. It was cold, rainy, and gross when we went out, but the company was wonderful, as was the food!

We came back home and took our respective seats on the couch again to finish out the Jeopardy! tournament. I knew about two questions in the whole three-night event and felt I deserved a medal. I never know anything on that show! Jenna used the evening to cut out laminated pieces for homeschool lessons, so I was in my happy place just watching! She's such a good mom. (And teacher! I asked if I could enroll in her classes.)

We said goodbye to them Sunday morning, filling them up with more coffee and some Danish warm from the oven.

It was a great start to hospitality in 2020. We'll see what God has ahead for us the rest of the year with welcoming people into our home, but we sure are glad we could begin with them!