Lessons learned in Santa Fe

the only picture I took in Santa Fe

I'm in Santa Fe for a few days this week for work meetings, and although I've heard this is a beautiful city, full of art and culture and amazing food, I've spent most of my time sick in my hotel room. Oh, well. I'll have to come back one day soon, with daughter and camera in tow.

Still, despite being confined to a hotel room, Santa Fe has made an impression on me in a way I didn't expect. This evening, after having spent most of last night and all of today holed up in my hotel room, lying on the bathroom floor and trying to keep it together, I realized that I really needed to try to keep something in my stomach. I called room service, and explained my situation. I told them that I knew it wasn't on their menu, but if they could bring me some really mild soup and some dry toast, I'd be very grateful. The voice on the other end said it would be no problem and when I thanked him again for going out of his way, he replied "It's no problem, honey. My wife eats like this too. It's what happens when you are expecting. I'll try to send you up some saltines, too." I didn't try to correct his assumption and just thanked him again and hung up.

My order was carried up by a young guy, probably in his late teens or early twenties. To be honest, he looked a bit sketchy, but he spoke with a soft, polite voice and asked where he could set the tray. He went through the usual "here's your toast, here's your soup" routine as I signed the check and started to back out. As he headed to the door, he turned to me, looked me straight in the eye and said "I know you don't feel well, my boss told me. I'm really sorry about that. There isn't much I can do, but maybe these will help" and he handed me a handful of ginger candy chews. I must have looked very surprised because he said shyly "my girl eats them when she doesn't feel well. She says they help. I hope they help you. God bless you." and he back out of the room and was gone. When I looked at the tray, besides the soup and toast I had ordered, there was a huge pile of saltines and a ginger ale, courtesy of the voice on the other end of the phone.

As I ate my soup and toast, I couldn't stop thinking about the kindness of these men. I know they are in the hospitality business, but they went above and beyond to offer me some comfort on a night that I really needed it.

Isn't this what we are here for? To help each other out? To ease one another's burdens? To go above and beyond to offer the kindness to another that we might one day need ourselves? For me tonight, this kindness came in the form of a pile of saltine crackers, a soda and a handful of candy, but I tear up whenever I think of how much I learned from these small gifts.

I believe in Karma, in the idea that what you put out into the world comes back to you. I'm not sure what I've done to deserve tonight's kindess, but I know that now I need to pay it forward. I'm not quite ready to say I'm grateful to be sick in Santa Fe, but perhaps I will get there one day. I am, however, so grateful for what I was reminded of tonight, for a small gift of crackers and candy from a room service voice and a young waiter, and from the lessons they left behind.