Alice and Tom

I’ve met thousands of people thanks to my new job.

But I’ve only made one person cry.

Alice.

And no, I didn’t smack her!

I just said “Goodbye.”

My boss told us before I left that the stories we would remember forever would not be scheduled. It wouldn’t be the events. It would be the random stops. The gas station visits. And the decisions we would make along the way that would bring the best surprises.

While in Madison (headquarters) we were given time to make a few hotel reservations. It takes a lot of negotiating, so as I was just learning and was quite nervous, I started with a not-so-nice hotel.

Score.

Turns out I can negotiate.

So then I think, LB just go crazy! What do you want?

I want to stay at a Bed and Breakfast.

So I call one.

I explain myself and the man on the other end pauses…

OH Shitttttttty. I am not getting this one. failing a negotiation. right. now.

“We would LOVE to have you. But, I have to ask, why did you chose us? Why here?!”

So I told him why…

I want to get to know the people of South Bend, Indiana. I am going to be traveling all over the United States this year and I want to experience new places through the people I meet.

I told him the honest truth. And it worked.

I would later get to know Tom and his wife Alice very well over a four day stay at The Oliver Inn.

Alice is an excellent cook/baker and made the BEST breakfasts. French toast, ham, banana bread, cinnamon rolls, spinach and cheese quiche and the lists goes on! ALSO! All of the bread she used in her cooking was homemade AND she let us taste test a wedding cake she was making for her son’s upcoming wedding. Red Velvet. My first red velvet experience! She even gave leftovers to her poor traveler; chicken salad sandwiches, the best Sub i have ever tasted, and veggie rollups.

When it was time to move on to the next state, I handed Alice and Tom my thank you letters and did an informal goodbye and thank you in front of the other Inn guests at breakfast. Alice shed some tears! I think it was because of her son’s upcoming wedding—not my departure! And we took a group picture.

Over talks about weddings, jobs, Sesame Street, food, and running your own business I really got to know Alice and Tom. And I really got know South Bend, IN thanks to them. I am so glad to have met them— now I know where I will stay when PSU plays Notre Dame in the future!

In front of “touchdown” Jesus on Notre Dame’s campus. In my PSU t-shirt of course!

Not only will I see the Nittany Lions destroy the Irish but I will also be able to ‘ketchup”(…get it?!) with some new friends.

At The Oliver Inn