The Kid's Alright

I don't talk much in the blog about guests, but this one I had to share. Yesterday we had a dad and his son stay with us. They had stayed once before 2 years ago. They head waaaay up north into Canada on a yearly fishing trip. Real guy stuff.

When the son came to the door, by himself, while dad unloaded the car, I said to him, 'Hi! You're Sam, I remember you!' He was stunned. For a minute. Then he said, 'Really? You remember me from two years ago? That's amazing!'

He then proceeded to tell me how his dad had taken him to a 'cheap motel' last year on their way to fishing and that this year he had said, 'No, dad, this year we have to go back to that really nice B&B place in Maine.' I could hug this kid.

We chatted quite a bit. He wanted to see if his pin was still in the map where he put it 2 years ago. We went and looked at the map. He was astonished at all the pins from all the different states and countries where our guests have come from.

He wanted to know if we still had our dog and if he could play with her. (Now you know Bre is getting really old and chasing whiffle balls around is not her thing any longer.) I explained to him that Bre was old and she's been sick and we try to keep her quiet and in our apartment as she falls down on the hardwood floors in the dining room if she comes out to visit.

Sam was all sympathy. 'I hope she gets better soon,' he said. For the life of me I have no idea why I told him she wasn't going to get any better, what she has is killing her. She's not in pain, but she's not going to get better.

With the openness of a kid he said, 'I'm sorry. She's a good dog. Remember how she chased the whiffle ball when I hit it?'

We moved on to talking about other things and he wanted to know if I was getting up to make him breakfast in the morning. That query piqued my curiosity and I asked him what time was he wanting his breakfast? '5 AM,' came the reply, 'we have to hit the road bright and early! We have 14 hours to drive.'

Well, you all know me and I'm barely out of bed by 7:30 so I had to tell him I couldn't do breakfast at 5 AM but he was welcome to have some cereal and hot chocolate.

His dad came to the door with their gear and Sam said, 'Dad! You should see the map. People come here from HAWAII! All the way from HAWAII to this B&B. I told you it was the best B&B in Maine!'

I took them both to their room (the Crow's Nest) and he was thrilled. 'Cool! And dad gets his own bed!' (Dad was quite happy about that, too.)

They rolled out of here sometime this morning. It might have been at 5 AM, I have no idea, I didn't even hear the door shut or the car start!

When I finally got out to the dining room there was an envelope with my name on it. I opened it up and there was a greeting card with a photo of a teddy bear comforting a golden retriever puppy. Inside was this:

Dear Monica,

I'm sorry about your dog. It was nice seeing you. Sam

I had to leave the room.

Thank you Sam. You made my day.

Oh, did I mention? Sam is 10.

White Cedar Inn Bed and Breakfast 178 Main Street Freeport, Maine 04032