Ghost of Christmas Past

With it being the Christmas season and all, I thought I would share a story of a Christmas past...

When I moved back to Virginia from Florida in October of '85, I got a job as a night auditor at a Holiday Inn. Night Auditor is essentially the person that works through the night (11pm - 7am), is the manager on duty (usually you are the only person there, so you are in charge) and balances what the registers say was taken in to the actual cash on hand. I was always good at balancing the books, so the actual work took only a few hours and then I was free to do what I wanted...usually sleep. However...many interesting things can happen in a hotel overnight, so very often it was worth my while to stay up and be entertained by the goings on.

One evening in December, when the hotel lobby was beautifully decorated with a Christmas tree and about a hundred gorgeous poinsetta plants, I arrived at work a little early...around 10:45. A little after midnight, soon after the hotel bar had closed, as I was going about my usual work routine, a man approached the desk. He started talking to me but I thought the way he began the conversation was a little strange...

"What time did you start working tonight?" he queried.

I replied, "My shift started at eleven, but I was actually here a little before that."

"Yes...yes, it must be you," he said.

As I said, I thought this a little odd, but I was distracted with my work and didn't really give it much thought. The man continued on...

"Today is my wife's birthday," he said. "And I really wanted to do something special for her."

So, I'm figuring that he wanted to buy a nice bottle of champagne from the bar for her but had found that the bar was closed. I started to prepare myself to tell him that there was nothing I could do, as I wasn't legally allowed to sell alcohol and didn't have the keys to the bar in any case.

"When we got here, around ten till eleven, my wife looked around and was really impressed."

Okay...now I'm thinking that his wife has a December birthday so feels a sort of affinity for Poinsettia plants. I will say, the hotel had done a magnificient job decorating and the Poinsettias were the prettiest ones I had ever seen. I'm sure that I wasn't supposed to, and probably would get in trouble if anyone found out, but I was going to tell the guy he could take a plant or two for his wife...with best wishes for a happy birthday.

"So...what I'm trying to say...that is...what my wife really wants and I would like to give her for her birthday...is another man."

Say what! Guess I was young and naieve, but I really hadn't seen that coming. I explained that I was on duty and could not leave the desk unattended. He looked a little crestfallen and gave me their room number...in case I changed my mind...and then wandered off.

From that day to this, I have never regretted my decision to pass on this offer...but I do wonder sometimes if there would have been some sort of gift bow involved.

On the Road Again

So, as I head south for warmer climes on a Christmas break cross-country road trip (why does cross-country seem to me as though it should apply only to East/West trips and not North/South...doesn't matter, I will be at the beach either way), a question occurs to me. What is it about the open road that quickens my heart and stirs my blood? Why do I get a glowing sense of happiness and smile for what seems no reason at all? I think it must be my sense of adventure, of the unknown, of rising up to meet life head on and just experiencing the glory of it. When I take a road trip, I have no definite plans, so I never know what I will see, who I will meet, or what I will experience. I tend to live fully in each moment as it comes, to go with the flow...to live it, experience it, learn from it and then move on. Rather than ask why I enjoy unplanned road trips, perhaps the better question is why I don't live every day of my life as if I were on one...hmm...food for thought there.

No One is to Blame...

So, for about the last day or so this song has been running through my head. Don't think I heard it recently...it just came bubbling up out of the dim recesses of the past and started circling around my brain...like the pheonix rising from the ashes of its death...or maybe more like the stench rising from a cowpie in which you have just stepped...yes, I think that is more like it. In any case, I thought I would borrow a page from Ryan's playbook and post the lyrics. Maybe there is some kind of message in there for me (kinda hope it isn't "Aspirations in the clouds but your hopes go down the drain")...maybe I am having some kind of flashback to the 80's (hey...they weren't THAT bad)...but hopefully publishing this here will purge it from my brain and restore my normal cranial soundtrack.

"No One is to Blame" - Howard Jones

You can look at the menu but you just cant eat
You can feel the cushions but you cant have a seat
You can dip your foot in the pool but you cant have a swim
You can feel the punishment but you cant commit the sin
And you want her and she wants you
We want everyone
And you want her and she wants you
No one, no one, no one ever is to blame
You can build a mansion but you just cant live in it
Youre the fastest runner but youre not allowed to win
Some break the rules
And live to count the cost
The insecurity is the thing that wont get lost
And you want her and she wants you
We want everyone
And you want her and she wants you
No one, no one, no one ever is to blame
You can see the summit but you cant reach it
Its the last piece of the puzzle but you just cant make it fit
Doctor says youre cured but you still feel the pain
Aspirations in the clouds but your hopes go down the drain
And you want her and she wants you
We want everyone
And you want her and she wants you
No one, no one, no one ever is to blame
No one ever is to blame
No one ever is to blame