The Homeless Hotel

This was supposed to be a fun brother/sister trip to Tempe, AZ to check out ASU together. Although Chloe and I had already been, Bennett wanted to see the area and Chloe wanted to go with him. But as you can tell from the title, it devolved into something else entirely. So this is the text we get from Bennett after they checked into the hotel:

Since the kids aren't old enough to rent a car, they were dependent on the hotel shuttle to pick them up from the airport. I spent LOTS of time picking out just the right hotel. It had to be close to campus, close to the airport, offer a shuttle, have free breakfast, a great pool, a fitness center, and allow a 19 year old to reserve a room. Quite a lot of parameters, but I've never met a challenge I can't meet (okay, tbh, I've met quite a few...but none that involve researching and finding the perfect hotel for the amount I'm willing to spend). Ergo...because I spent so much time looking for just the right place, I was devastated to learn that it was so awful. The website mentioned some renovations, but nothing about no amenities whatsoever. 🤦 Then later that evening, Chloe texts us this message:

 

 

OMG! Stick a dagger in my heart already! I feel just awful! Aren't parents supposed to protect their young?! What have we done?! You can take us out of the running for the Parent of Year Award now. One more interesting twist...Do you see that fire truck on the far left in the first picture? Yes, the fire alarm went off while they were there and they had to go outside, through the homeless stairwell and wait with all the homeless people for the firetruck to come check the building and allow them back in. At this point, I just wanted to yell at somebody. MY BABIES are stuck in a homeless hotel and I put them there unknowingly! Arghhh!! Talk about feeling helpless. In my wisdom, and as penance, I stayed up all night worrying. I left the ringer on my phone and told the kids to call or text me any time of the night. My stomach churned and my mind came up with all the worst case scenarios it could think of. Typical Mom stuff. I thought about practicing my breathing techniques I learned to calm down and lower my racing heart - but my lungs were having none of it. I then tried praying, but that brought no solace either. 

 

I love that the lesson Chloe saw in all of this was resilience. YES! Yes, Chloe...that's what I was hoping you would learn but was certainly not manipulating the circumstances to create this opportunity. But my heart is tickled that she saw it this way. She knew that she had a choice and they both chose to see the humor, the deeper character lesson, and make the most of their time together.

This is the "pretty at night" picture Chloe was talking about. The reason there are almost no day pictures is because of the other fact that made this trip insane is that it was 118 degrees both days they were there. That made being outside in the day close to impossible. And remember, they had to walk everywhere because they didn't have a car. There is no pool to cool off in. And the cold water didn't work in their shower.I mean, it totally looks like we sent them off to Phoenix and set this whole thing up so they wouldn't ever want to go back. We couldn't have planned this if we tried. It's so unbelievable, it's funny! Now they have a crazy story to share that will become mythical by the time they have kids of their own looking at colleges.