From Hotel Brain Damage to Hotel Bliss

Last weekend was our, what seems like, 18th weekend hotel stay since school got out.

It's probably actually only the fourth weekend but travel softball keeps the wheels spinning on our family truckster and our bags constantly packed. However, this last visit to Eastern Nebraska, we got to share our hotel visit with my youngest brother and his family, the one with three babies under the age of 5.

Not only was it great to see them all but I also had the pleasure of being reminded that I no longer have to share a hotel room with babies and toddlers. How blessed my life is right now!

I have to admit, as my youngest daughter has grown, I've looked forward to checking off the list the tedious tasks of raising a little one. She's eating solid food ... check! She's FINALLY potty trained ... check! She's taking her own shower ... check!

The list goes on and on. Yet, somehow I've forgotten over the last year or so, what brain damage it was when she was a baby when all five of us would be crammed into one hotel room. Now thanks to seeing my brother's hotel room last weekend and hearing them tell me how their youngest wouldn't sleep and how three out of the five of them were up half the night and flat furious by morning, I was reminded that, finally, my family of five can stay in one hotel room peacefully AND get a good night's rest ... CHECK!

It wasn't all that long ago really, but I can remember clearly having to bring so much extra stuff when I had a little one. A hotel visit was honestly more work than it was worth. There was the 120 pound playpen, full box of diapers 'cause you never know, full tub of wipes, extra outfits just in case, toys, blankets, blowup swim tubes for babies, and, of course, my family's standard box fan just in case we get the room sandwiched between the 14-year-old boys basketball team who ran the halls till 1 a.m.

As I reflect on those earlier years of travel ball with my older girls, dragging our youngest to many hotels, I simply cannot recall one lousy visit that I actually slept well or got through an entire night without her waking up. She was never one of those babies who would sleep just anywhere, so she was either hollering my name throughout the night, or would be so exhausted from the hot day and the hotel pool, she'd have wild dreams and be crying out all night, keeping us all up. And, if I had to count, I'd say two out of every five visits, she'd get sick. There's nothing worse than trying to stifle a dramatic, puking toddler with her snoozing sisters less than five feet away. Her and I have slept many a night on the hotel bathroom floor just so we didn't disturb her dreaming daddy and sisters, while she threw up every couple hours.

Oh, just the thought of those days makes me cringe. As much as I miss her as a baby and those younger years, I really quite enjoy our family visits to the hotel now and look forward to them. The packing has reduced and the stress is less. The look on my sister-in-law's face last Sunday morning was a reminder to me to be thankful and I hope the look on my face that morning was hope for her to hang on and one day she, too, will go from Hotel Brain Damage to Hotel Bliss!