Once and Future Methodist
THE Hotel
The story of our first visit to St. Louis to meet Austin and his family, one year and two days after the marrow donation is quite a story in and of itself. I had to work the last of 7 12 hr night shifts on Wednesday night, come home and pack the Pathfinder, and haul (J) and myself 600 miles to the Northwest in order to be at Children’s Hospital in St. Louis for the Friday morning festivities. We had been on the road when we finally crested one last hill and saw the Gateway Arch in the last light of a setting sun. We wound our way into St. Louis proper and located Children’s hospital, so we knew where we were to be in the morning. Now, time to look for a hotel.
Looking, looking, looking…..it seems that there isn’t much in the way of hotel supply in this part of St. Louis. Finally we had wandered onto hwy. 40 and, passing an exit, I saw the backward, bright letters of a Marriott sign in the rear view mirror. We turned around and finally figured out how to get there (the hotel was hidden by a taller office building). Nice place. Obviously mostly business and convention business. We pulled up into the circle and shuffled in to see if they had a room. Now, I’d been up 36 hours at this point, and (J) didn’t look much better. We made it up to the desk and I asked the clerk if they had any open rooms. He didn’t answer too quickly, finally volunteering that yes, they did, but was I aware that they were $120/night??! The Spirit did a mighty work in restraining my tongue that night, I just flipped the Gold Card on the counter and said “Whatever. How late does room service run?”
As part of the check in process they ask some demographic questions…where are you from? How did you get to St. Louis? How did you select the hotel? I answered each one straight, keeping my desire to fire a sarcasim drenched dart at the officious clerk. The last question was : Why are you here? Business, Meeting, Pleasure, function, etc. I got my chance. I looked at the clerk and asked if they got the St. Louis Post dispatch? (yes, several hundred per day, in fact, it was a loaded question). With my best Clint Eastwood squint I replied: “Look at the front page story in the morning, you’ll have your answer.” With that I took the room key and (J) and I went upstairs to eat and crash.
At about 8 the next morning I came down to get our stuff together to head off to Children’s Hospital and our meeting with Austin. The same crew was on the desk, and there were several papers on the counter. Austin’s, and my, stories were on the front page. They looked at me and their eyes got big. They pointed to the article, and I nodded my head. They learned a valuable lesson that night: Things (and people) are not always what they would seem (to be).
So, last night Patti and Austin pick me up at Lambert Field and we wandered the interstates of Downtown St. Louis. Finally, we got onto Hwy 40, and I started getting that Déjà vu all over again feeling. Patti was fumbling with a map when I told her that I knew the way from here, and she looked at me like I was crazy. Take a right at the Edward Jones building, then a left, and circle around the parking garage. Sure enough. The hotel/convention center where we were staying, where Matt and Alex are meeting their donors, is the one (J) and I stayed in. I called (J) on the cell and just said “It’s the same hotel.” She said “THE Hotel?!?, “Yes, THE Hotel”. If she could jump she would have been jumping up and down. Needless to say, we were received with a much more welcoming attitude this time.
