A previous life.
At the end of a long work day in 2013, somehow ‘home’ slipped into my sentence, instead of ‘hotel’. “Time to go back home.” I said to my colleague, after a Monday in the office which only started after each of us flew from different states. With laughter, he replied, “Rose… thank the lucky stars we don’t live in the Hilton.”
It certainly felt like we did. The Easton Town Square in Columbus, Ohio was where the two of us spent a year of our lives. Arriving on Monday’s and departing on Thursday’s, with the occasional out on Sunday back on Friday. Each day, we left the hotel around 6:30am to get to the office at 7 and returning back for dinner around 7pm. Sometimes only to return back to the office around 9pm to work with vendors in a time zone 12 hours ahead.
Co-workers become family
I distinctly remember watching families enjoy time together in the square during summer and the amazement of heated sidewalks in the winter. The feeling of gratitude that would come over me each morning when my co-worker would brush off the snow on the rental car (I was the driver). The happy times when we would make time to stop and get ‘good’ coffee before going into the office or have a higher quality meal in the evenings. Our lunch spot knew my order – to this day I haven’t found a restaurant meal as satisfying as that one (pineapples were included, and it was an authentic Mexican place).
We did what we could to make it feel like home, to keep ourselves from burn-out and stay upbeat, not just for our clients sake but for our own sanity. This was not without many phone calls to family and friends about the stress this particular assignment had on me. Ever so thankful for that time in my life. The person I traveled with the most became an amazing friend. Without warning, the experience quickly taught me about my own needs and wishes for my life.
Complete side note: after being on the road so long, I will forever remember the first home-cooked meal I had after that year was up, it was as though I could taste the love.