Much has been written over the years regarding the value good friends and the love of family. I am reminded of this often and have especially been aware of these truths over the past few weeks. Yesterday, I witnessed the high school graduation of my youngest son, John Thomas.
Many of you know him as your waiter here at the inn. After the morning ceremony, about 60 friends and out of town family members joined us for a big cookout back at the inn. Last weekend, we went to Charlotte to attend the wedding of my niece. All my family was there and we had a wonderful time catching up. It is such a fun time to share happy occasions with those you love.
Why do we need a special occasion to get together? It is great to gather for weddings and graduations and reunions. The question is why don’t we do it more often, even when there is no special event. Why don’t we get together just because enjoy each other’s company and want to spend time with each other? The answer I’m afraid is our busy schedules and harried lifestyles. Still, wouldn’t it be awesome just to set some time aside for those most important to us? Maybe spending time with our families and good friends should be a priority, not just something we do when a special event occurs.
We often get the chance to see reunions of families and friends here at the inn. Two couples, the Antons and Fetterlys, just left this morning. They meet here every year and enjoy each other’s company the whole time they are together. After breakfast on Sunday, they reserve their dates for next year and check out. Then they move to our patio and spend the last few hours enjoying their time together before they reluctantly depart for home. In a few days, two more of our favorite folks will check inn, Al and Maggie Romogosa from south Florida. They have been coming for years and will be with us for a few days before they are joined by their daughter , Christine, and her husband, Matthew, who now live in Alabama. Together, they will have a few days just to slow down and enjoy each other.
We see these events happen over and over. It has happened many times already this year and many others are scheduled. It is especially rewarding to witness new friendships being formed and a new cycle of reunions start to occur. “Are you coming this time next year, because if you are, we want to come too?”
We are more fortunate than most! Many of our family and friends love to come to the inn to visit. Many of our guests have become good friends as well so we always seemed to have interesting folks to visit.
You are too numerous to name, but we value each of you and hope to see you again this year. Thanks so much for your love support of our family and the inn.
–Mort
