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JBloggs

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Today I went to the funeral of one of my favorite guests.
A gentle and very kind soul, an actual rocket scientist/physicist for NASA, a lover of traditional music, mountains and this place.
This morning when my alarm clock went off I said to myself "Just five more minutes..." as we had 4 room for breakfast. And then I heard his widow in the room above moving about getting ready for the day she and her son (in another room) bury her husband. They don't live around here, but he grew up here, so his roots are here.
No one has ever had a very special cup for their coffee at the inn, nor asked about our children by name and watched them grow up, except this guest.
I have some of his music (from a band he is in for fun) I play on the speaker in the dining room during breakfast, and whenever he was here I would make sure I pointed it out and embarrassed him with the other guests. It always made for great conversation.
Another reminder that if you are not enjoying your guests, and touching lives then you may miss out on this whole thing called innkeeping.
Maya Angelou said:
“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
 
Oh no. Not the rocket scientist. I love your stories about him.
 
I am sorry for your loss because, knowing you, he was a member of the family - something only a few guests will ever achieve. I hope all the innmates are fortunate enough to have at least one guest who will be like that as we all need special people in our loves.
JB - he became a special person because YOU are special and he recognized it.
 
It's always difficult to lose a friend. Glad you were there for his family.
 
Oh, this made me tear up. I'm so sorry for your loss
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I'm so sorry! Hugs for all of you!
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What a special friend you had and still have in mind and heart!
 
I am sorry for your loss because, knowing you, he was a member of the family - something only a few guests will ever achieve. I hope all the innmates are fortunate enough to have at least one guest who will be like that as we all need special people in our loves.
JB - he became a special person because YOU are special and he recognized it..
Ditto
 
Thanks everyone. Our daughters also cried over losing him.
They left moments ago. A much brighter drive home now, I hope.
Here is something I didn't mention before, but Thursday at check-in (same day they all checked-in) a couple arrived on an anniversary.
I had that worry "celebrating a special anniversary and happy vs losing your husband of 33 years sad" ...well at check-in the super sweet anniversary couple said to me and I quote:
"This is our 3 year anniversary, we both lost our first spouses" and it sorta bugged me that she told me that out the gate, and it was odd. I wondered why she said that?
Then yesterday, the day of the service and pouring rain graveside burial where his friend and band-member/fiddle player played "I'll fly away" the Widow sat at the table with these folks. No one else, the rest of the rooms ate prior and these folks tended to sit back with their coffee, like they were waiting for someone.
And sure enough they discussed it. All three of the widows/widowers. They were there for quite a while too.
Hebrews 13:2 NIV "Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it."
Hebrews 13:2NKJ "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels."
 
Thanks everyone. Our daughters also cried over losing him.
They left moments ago. A much brighter drive home now, I hope.
Here is something I didn't mention before, but Thursday at check-in (same day they all checked-in) a couple arrived on an anniversary.
I had that worry "celebrating a special anniversary and happy vs losing your husband of 33 years sad" ...well at check-in the super sweet anniversary couple said to me and I quote:
"This is our 3 year anniversary, we both lost our first spouses" and it sorta bugged me that she told me that out the gate, and it was odd. I wondered why she said that?
Then yesterday, the day of the service and pouring rain graveside burial where his friend and band-member/fiddle player played "I'll fly away" the Widow sat at the table with these folks. No one else, the rest of the rooms ate prior and these folks tended to sit back with their coffee, like they were waiting for someone.
And sure enough they discussed it. All three of the widows/widowers. They were there for quite a while too.
Hebrews 13:2 NIV "Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it."
Hebrews 13:2NKJ "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.".
As I have said before, we touch the lives of our guests and they touch ours. Sometimes it is guests touching guests' lives.
 
So very sorry to hear of his passing JB. It is very hard as we do become 'family' sometimes they join ours and sometime we join theirs.
 
Thanks everyone. Our daughters also cried over losing him.
They left moments ago. A much brighter drive home now, I hope.
Here is something I didn't mention before, but Thursday at check-in (same day they all checked-in) a couple arrived on an anniversary.
I had that worry "celebrating a special anniversary and happy vs losing your husband of 33 years sad" ...well at check-in the super sweet anniversary couple said to me and I quote:
"This is our 3 year anniversary, we both lost our first spouses" and it sorta bugged me that she told me that out the gate, and it was odd. I wondered why she said that?
Then yesterday, the day of the service and pouring rain graveside burial where his friend and band-member/fiddle player played "I'll fly away" the Widow sat at the table with these folks. No one else, the rest of the rooms ate prior and these folks tended to sit back with their coffee, like they were waiting for someone.
And sure enough they discussed it. All three of the widows/widowers. They were there for quite a while too.
Hebrews 13:2 NIV "Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it."
Hebrews 13:2NKJ "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.".
Yes. We find each other. There is no explaining this particular loss to someone who has not experienced it.
It is a gift you gave them, JBloggs, the opportunity to be together.
As many of you know, I've been a widow for a long time. When I first opened the b&b it had only been a year. People asked me constantly ... are you here alone? are you married? etc. And I would tell them my situation ... oh, boy, would I tell them. As much as they wanted (or could bear) to hear. Sometimes I cried. Always people hugged me. Sometimes they cried, too. Sometimes they would apologize for asking. And I would say, 'No, no, I am glad you let me tell you about my husband because he was a wonderful man. And I miss him terribly and I don't want him to be forgotten.'
Somtimes a widow or widower would linger after coffee or come looking for me to talk about their loss. And if they cried I would often cry right along with them. One man widowed ... so sweet ... sat and sat, and talked and talked, I had to do dishes and broke the rules as I gave him an apron and let him help. He shadowed me for hours, talking, folding sheets, he missed his cruise to the island ... He went and bought lunch for both of us and returned with it as a surprise. Then I pulled the crust off my sandwich (a bad habit, I know) and he said his wife always did that and then he was crying. He cried and cried. My eyes were wet but I just put a box of tissues by his side and sat quietly. He said he had not been able to cry in the five years since he'd lost his wife and he felt there was a lump in his chest that broke apart and was swept away when he cried that day.
JBloggs said:
"This is our 3 year anniversary, we both lost our first spouses" and it sorta bugged me that she told me that out the gate, and it was odd. I wondered why she said that?
Then yesterday, the day of the service and pouring rain graveside burial where his friend and band-member/fiddle player played "I'll fly away" the Widow sat at the table with these folks. No one else, the rest of the rooms ate prior and these folks tended to sit back with their coffee, like they were waiting for someone.
And sure enough they discussed it. All three of the widows/widowers. They were there for quite a while too.
 
Thanks everyone. Our daughters also cried over losing him.
They left moments ago. A much brighter drive home now, I hope.
Here is something I didn't mention before, but Thursday at check-in (same day they all checked-in) a couple arrived on an anniversary.
I had that worry "celebrating a special anniversary and happy vs losing your husband of 33 years sad" ...well at check-in the super sweet anniversary couple said to me and I quote:
"This is our 3 year anniversary, we both lost our first spouses" and it sorta bugged me that she told me that out the gate, and it was odd. I wondered why she said that?
Then yesterday, the day of the service and pouring rain graveside burial where his friend and band-member/fiddle player played "I'll fly away" the Widow sat at the table with these folks. No one else, the rest of the rooms ate prior and these folks tended to sit back with their coffee, like they were waiting for someone.
And sure enough they discussed it. All three of the widows/widowers. They were there for quite a while too.
Hebrews 13:2 NIV "Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it."
Hebrews 13:2NKJ "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.".
Yes. We find each other. There is no explaining this particular loss to someone who has not experienced it.
It is a gift you gave them, JBloggs, the opportunity to be together.
As many of you know, I've been a widow for a long time. When I first opened the b&b it had only been a year. People asked me constantly ... are you here alone? are you married? etc. And I would tell them my situation ... oh, boy, would I tell them. As much as they wanted (or could bear) to hear. Sometimes I cried. Always people hugged me. Sometimes they cried, too. Sometimes they would apologize for asking. And I would say, 'No, no, I am glad you let me tell you about my husband because he was a wonderful man. And I miss him terribly and I don't want him to be forgotten.'
Somtimes a widow or widower would linger after coffee or come looking for me to talk about their loss. And if they cried I would often cry right along with them. One man widowed ... so sweet ... sat and sat, and talked and talked, I had to do dishes and broke the rules as I gave him an apron and let him help. He shadowed me for hours, talking, folding sheets, he missed his cruise to the island ... He went and bought lunch for both of us and returned with it as a surprise. Then I pulled the crust off my sandwich (a bad habit, I know) and he said his wife always did that and then he was crying. He cried and cried. My eyes were wet but I just put a box of tissues by his side and sat quietly. He said he had not been able to cry in the five years since he'd lost his wife and he felt there was a lump in his chest that broke apart and was swept away when he cried that day.
JBloggs said:
"This is our 3 year anniversary, we both lost our first spouses" and it sorta bugged me that she told me that out the gate, and it was odd. I wondered why she said that?
Then yesterday, the day of the service and pouring rain graveside burial where his friend and band-member/fiddle player played "I'll fly away" the Widow sat at the table with these folks. No one else, the rest of the rooms ate prior and these folks tended to sit back with their coffee, like they were waiting for someone.
And sure enough they discussed it. All three of the widows/widowers. They were there for quite a while too.
.
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