The Unexpected Phone Call

 It's a rather gloomy looking day here in the Poconos.  Overcast, but thankfully not raining and not bitterly cold.  As matter of fact is was "warm" enough to put up some holiday lights outside.  Or rather to attempt to.  I purchased a strand of lights that are solar powered that I "draped" (and I am NOT artistic at all) over some bushes (prickly ones at that) by the side of the road.  I have no idea if they will actually work.  (Last year's attempt with other lights didn't, so say a prayer).  The only reason I decided to do this today was because the temperatures were in the upper 40s and who knows when that will happen again.  (Confession:  I'm a DO NOT put holiday decorations up until AFTER Thanksgiving in general.  However, in this bleak and too often cruel world that we have been thrust into, my new outlook is "if it brings you joy, DO IT!  Who cares what I or anyone else thinks about the timing...just DO IT!)  It's the last work Friday of the month (I'm off next Friday!  Hoorah!  Actually I'm on vacation Tuesday and Wednesday and then get the bonus of Thanksgiving, the Friday after that and then the weekend.  HOORAH!) and I've been pretty busy and stressed this week.

Which might be why I found myself standing at the kitchen island eating a tuna salad wrap for lunch.  (I never appreciated tuna salad until vegan mayonnaise became a thing and now I can't get enough.)  I was "rushing" my downtime, when my phone began to ring.  I glanced down to see what spam call was coming in and it says:  Skytop Front Desk.  WHY would I be getting a call from the front desk?  I figured it must be a mistake, so I picked it up.

The call was from T who works at the gift shop. She had gotten my number from D, who is a neighbor, who also works at the gift shop.  They had gotten a framed poster in that they knew I would like and had set it aside for me to purchase.

Now, this requires some background information.  In the gift shop they sell small poster prints of the resort as well as activities.  Hanging on the wall of the lower level of the lodge are 4 paintings which depict some of these activities:  Hike, Picnic, Dance and Bridge.  The gift shop sold print of some of these and my husband and I LOVED them.  But they didn't have all four. It seemed like there wasn't much call for bridge.  (Does everyone know that bridge is a card game?  I don't play, but my mother did.  And in an interesting turn of events, one of the people she used to play with was the grandmother of SNL cast member, Colin Jost!)  We bought the three they had and said if they ever got the 4th one, we wanted it.

Now we bought these prints over a year ago.  The three of them hang in our living room area. 

We love them and they really fit well with the "feel" of the house.  (Remember we are only a few miles away from the resort.)  Every time we would go to visit or have a meal at Skytop we would check to see if "bridge" came in.

Apparently now it has, which means we'll have to rearrange the wall artwork, but... We plan on driving up early this evening and picking it up.  (And paying for it as well...how much you want to bet that I find something else there that I "must" have too?)

But it's not just about the poster; it's about the people.  We may have mentioned that we wanted the 4th poster when we were there, and someone LISTENED.  Someone made note of it.  And then when the print actually came in, someone took the time to find our contact information and follow up.  Someone (probably more than just one) CARED.  They followed through.  And in the process, made my rather dreary day brighter.

I'm anxious for my work day to wrap up.  I want to get in my car (with my husband of course) and drive up the mountain.  (Hopefully passing twinkling lights that we put up earlier) I want to walk into the Lodge and let the specialness that is Skytop envelope me.  I want to take in the decorations (as they transition from autumn to winter) and smell the wonderful aromas that will be coming from out of the dining room.  I want to thank whoever is at the gift shop again for holding the print for me.  I want to thank them for listening and caring.

Maybe it's silly, but all of this gives me a bit of hope.  This world definitely needs that.  And I'm so glad that Skytop gives it to me.  

UPDATE:  We did go up after work.  The resort IS transitioning from autumn to winter with their lovely (and traditional) decorations.  And the place smelled AMAZING.  (Maybe it has something to do with the gingerbread house that lives in the Pine Room/lobby).  We were lucky enough to run into a speak with staff/friends (who feel like extended family to us).  I didn't see the poster we wanted for sale in the gift shop, but there was one on hold for us in the back.  (Were we the first?  Was this a test run?  Will we ever know?)  And talk about strange coincidences, while we were waiting (and there's never a wait in the shop), I spoke with the woman behind me who lives a block away from us!  So not only did we get a new piece of artwork for the house, but we made a new friend as well.  We reluctantly headed home (my husband didn't want to leave because the aroma from the kitchen was so good, but we weren't dressed for dinner and we didn't have a reservation) and I'm thrilled to say that the holiday lights we set up were working and looked really nice.  Now our only challenge is to put up the new poster...what a wonderful challenge to have!