Our Arrival: We Are Here

On the way to the hotel the call is made. We have a formal protocol for hotels. We call at least a half hour before arrival and check several things. Reservation: confirmed. Wheelchair Accessibility: confirmed. Internet Access: Confirmed. This way, if there is any problem, it can all be fixed by the time we get to the hotel. The phone is answered by a very pleasant woman. I'm keyed up and tense because of the conflict we had on landing. I am prepared for a fight but hoping one isn't necessary. We confirm everything. I thank her, relaxing back into my car seat. She then says, 'There is one thing that you might need to know about the room.'

Oh.

Good.

Heavens.

No.

'What?' I ask with my heart in my throat.

"It has one of the loveliest views in the whole hotel. You are going to love it.'

Oh.

Thank.

Heavens.

The view, therefore, is the first thing we check when we get to the room. Well, the first thing we check is the bathroom, old habits die hard. And the view is indeed beautiful. We are staying, actually, in Redwood City, where we got a great, cheap, hotel room. We look out over a small tidal pool - so active we can see the flow by watching the ripples on top of the water. Past the tidal pool is wilderness. We open the window wide and let in the cool sea air.

That night we leave the window open, the curtains wide. There is absolute darkness outside the room. Only the stars and the moon to look at. We could feel the breeze come into the room in gusts and lay there and watch the moon slowly rise and the stars brightly twinkle. It was like sleeping under a night sky, only in a hotel room in a comfortable bed with an accessible toilet only a few feet away. In other words, it was like sleeping under the heavens - done right!

As I lay in bed and watched the moon grow brighter in contrast to a darkening background. I thought of the day, the plane ride, the people, and of course the problem that ended the trip. Then, it struck me, the trip ended with the arrival in a hotel with a lovely view, not with the arrival at the gate to a man with a horrible point of view.

'All's well that ends well,' I told myself, and, for once, believed each one of those words.