Do you remember the movie “UP”?

This sweet little old man at our bed and breakfast this past weekend reminded me of him.  On our first morning there for breakfast he had this sweet smile on his face and even went around and refreshed everyone’s coffee.  Typically the owner of the Inn who also makes THE best breakfasts does this. Anyhow as he (the owner) was handing out all of our breakfast plates he asked if it was just him (the sweet old man) this morning to which he simply replied “yes” .  We didn't think much more of it, I mean maybe his wife wanted to sleep in or wasn't feeling well but other than remembering how sweet he was it was the end of it. I think I mentioned to Robb once that he reminded me of my grandpa a bit, he just looked like one of those grandpas you want to hug. 

On our second morning I didn't want to be the last ones down for breakfast so we headed down at 8:50 am verses 9 am when it “starts”. Sweet old man was the second one there and it was just him again. We talked to him for a bit and found out he was from the Tulsa area like us. He even sat in the same place as the previous morning.  We all had another amazing breakfast and talked to everyone, asked the owner a few questions about the inn.  Everyone was just chatting away. Then a few started to leave and it was down to us, another couple, sweet old man and the owner. I don’t even know how it was brought up but the sweet old man said that he was there to relive some memories he had of Brandon With his wife and that tomorrow (02/17) was the 1 year anniversary of his wife passing.  As he was taking about it his voice cracked a few times and my eyes welled up with tears. We had to excuse ourselves. When we got back up to our room I just started crying. This just really broke my heart. I felt so awful for him. This poor old man was alone on Valentine’s Day surrounded by couples. He is so much stronger than I ever could have been.  I kept telling Robb it wasn't fair. And that I just hated this for him and I wish I could give him a hug. Come to find out his cabin was the one right next to ours.

Finally I just asked Robb if he would be upset if I told the owner I wanted to buy his room for the night. Robb said not at all and to just tell them to charge it to the card we have on file. So I ran down to the breakfast area to find the owner. Once I was able to talk to him, I told him we would like to buy one night for him and the owner said he was going to talk to him to see if he wanted to stay longer on him. So we agreed that he would ask but one night was on us. I know it’s not much but we just felt like we needed to do something for him. The owner asked if we wanted him to tell the sweet old man what we had done for him, but I said no. For it to just be a surprise gift for him. So we finished packing up our room and loaded up the car. I felt like that still wasn't enough; I just wish we had known sooner, we would have taken him to dinner or paid for a show he wanted to see. Something to make him not feel so alone. I mean who knows maybe he didn't feel that way but it just really hurt my heart for him.  I wrote a note to him real fast saying that his story touched me and that I know amazing things will come his way and that I admire his strength. I gave it to Robb to put on his door but he had already gotten in his car and we didn't want it to get blown away so I begged Robb to just hand it to him before he left. He did and the man said thank you and Robb came back to the car with tears in his eyes. So clearly this was on both of our hearts. I have tears in my eyes writing this even. I really hope he enjoys the rest of his vacation and I hope the owner was able to talk to him. I know you don’t know him and I don’t really either but any kind of prayers or happy thoughts for him would be greatly appreciated. I wish I had hugged him.