Breakfast with a Smile
I have to start this post with a moment of gratitude for my in-laws. Their graceful and kind transition to grandparenting has allowed my wife and me at least a week each summer to reconnect as partners while our kids are away. This last summer allowed us for a quick getaway to Asheville, NC where we liquidated some hotel credit card points to take in some beautiful sites.
Speaking of hotel points, our Hilton Honors card (highly recommend it, no, I am not getting a kick back) includes a free daily breakfast with our stay. Imagine, all the travel savvy folks who use their credit cards for everything throughout the year converging on your hotel one morning high fiving one another for the free breakfast. This perk, however, always has people attached. People who graciously greet and seat you, the talented hands who prepare the meals with their regions’ unique ingredients, and last but not least, the hands that clear the evidence away that you were ever there so another group can eat.
The chef’s portrait was offered on the same piece of paper where we placed our omelet orders in Asheville. The Double Tree team did an actual double-take when they saw an ordinary piece of paper transformed into something entirely new. This moment of thanks was followed with lots of smiles, requests for more the following morning, some social media appreciation from the staff & hotel itself, and a reminder that you never know what someone else is going through on a random Tuesday morning in a hotel lobby. I might be traveling but they might be staying put for now, so I always make sure to clean up my plate and leave behind some grace.
Drawing on kids’ menus is not just for kids, but for the dads, too. We were visiting our children’s godfather on our way back from the Florida keys when we stopped into a delicious breakfast spot in Sarasota, FL. First Watch’s kid’s menu looked like the ideal place to leave an illustrated review, a technique I invented while working for a startup cleaning company back in the spring of 2019. Instead of words and stars, I like to draw pictures about what we saw, who we talked about, how big the stack of pancakes were in comparison to our bodies, and so much more. It was a joyful and memorable way to say thank you in my own artistic way.