By the time they graduate from college, most people know what they’re going to do, or at the very least where they’re going. After our graduation, I suddenly realized I had no idea. I can’t go home. Well, ok, I don’t have a home to go to. My parents were killed when I was a kid and I certainly can’t go back to my aunt and uncle’s farm. I was sitting on the bed in my friend Steve’s apartment, helping him pack. And listening to him assert himself; which is easy since no one’s here but me.
“They expect me to come home and join in the family business, but I’m not going.”
I said, “You know, Steve, you know practically everything about me, but I don’t know much about you at all. Well, you know, like your family or anything.”
“My parents own and operate a hotel in northern Minnesota, near the Canadian border. They call it a hotel though it’s more like a lodge. They think I’m going to show up there and just start running the place so they can retire but I’ve got news for them. “
I was sitting there thinking this whole conversation doesn’t make sense to me. Steve’s degree is in graphic design, what does that have to do with operating a hotel? Not knowing how to ask that, I said nothing and just helped him fold clothes that he was stuffing into a bag.
“Well, I wish I had something like that to go home to. I have nowhere to go and no clue what I’m going to do.”
“You could go there in my place.”
That statement just hung there and I thought yeah, right, what do I know about a hotel? My degree is in business management and accounting, and well, ok, the more I thought about it…the idea was forming in my brain. I just said, “What’s it like?”
“Oh, it’s on a chain of lakes and it’s really scenic. Only my parents hate each other and the idea of going back and living in that house gives me the willies. I was glad to get outa there. Here, take this,” He tossed a brochure with a map onto my lap and kept packing. “Give them my regards and if you really want me to, I’ll give them a call and tell them to expect you.”