Two years ago, I found myself between homes. Thankfully a family friend came to my rescue
and paid for a hotel room in Athens. I lived there for seven months.
I loved the view from the top floor window. I looked forward to watching cars drive down the
two-lane road that stretched for miles into the distance. I’d grown up with a backyard view of
the entire San Fernando Valley. Maybe, in a way, any view reminds me of home.
That fall semester, home game weekends were surprisingly good times in the sold-out hotel,
brimming over with Bulldog fans from all over Georgia, as well as visitors rooting for the
opposing team. When I exited the elevator in the morning and entered the lobby, I found
myself eating breakfast with strangers. I’d never experienced anything like it in my life. The first
Saturday morning of the 2022 football season, I met the most amazing couple. They were
longtime regulars who came to stay at the hotel every home game weekend year after year.
When I overhead them talking about student-athletes on the football team, I mentioned that I
used to work for the UGA Athletic Association. We hit it off right away.
Ruth was a UGA Alum, a retired high school English teacher, and a diehard football fan. Bud was originally from rural Kentucky, where he coached high school football. He was easily the
greatest Bulldogs fan I’d ever met. Not only that, Bud was the biggest college fan, period, of all
time. Bud spoke of the college experience, and the UGA campus, with such reverence, even
though he had graduated from a college in Kentucky. If I could grant Bud one wish, I would wish
for him to be transported back to his 18-year-old self as a UGA college student with a full
football scholarship and four glorious years ahead of him between the hedges.
For the next three months, I looked forward to eating breakfast with Bud and Ruth every
Saturday and Sunday of those home game weekends. On my last morning in the hotel, on my way to work, I stopped at the front desk to say goodbye to the gentleman who worked the overnight shift. I told him how much I was going to miss everyone, and how they had all made such a difference during that hard time in my life.
Two years later, I still miss them. I never realized how a simple, “Hi Jill,” every time I walked
through the door could make or break my whole day. I don’t know if the hotel staff learned from me during my stay, but I learned from each and every one of them—no matter their role at the hotel. I learned how to be more patient and tolerant and grateful than I ever thought I could be. I was reminded how lucky I am to be able to go to a job I love every single day. I hope that somewhere down the road I can pay forward the kindness and hospitality I received from everyone who worked there. I don’t know how they do it every day with a smile. But they do.
Wherever you all are now, I want to thank every single one of you. I know you won’t believe
this, but you literally saved my life all those months. Literally.
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