What? Didn't I feel guilt? Not too much when I booked it. However, at the check-in desk when the clerk asked us about the ages of our children I instantly was filled with fear. My face flushed, I gulped and looked at Billy. (After all, he's the head of the family right? He's the spokesperson!) He shuffled a little bit and glanced nervously at me and spit out:
"Um, 8 and, um, 5."
Realize this: Billy and I both have a hard time with lying...even to hotel clerks just making conversation. Instantly guilt pangs shot through my heart....I had disowned my two older children!
I wanted to shout out: "I've got a 15 and 13 year old too! They're in the car...we just don't want you to know because I'm too cheap to pay for two rooms."
However, I maintained my cool. I did start getting paranoid--first of all with this lovely thought: "So, if you two have two lovely children ages 5 and 8...then where are they? You didn't leave them all alllooone in the hot car in a strange parking lot did you?" Um, apparently I did.
ACK! I was so afraid they were on to us.
Thankfully the clerk just smiled and became distracted by the next customer. However, I felt as though the jig was up and we were about to get caught at any moment.
After we had checked in Billy and I strategized getting into our room with all 4 kids without drawing attention. Cautiously, we had them leave the car in pairs separated by a minute or so as to not draw attention. We also kept the curtains shut and practically taped their mouths shut to keep them quite. Believe me...a herd of elephants would've been less noticeable.
So, the next time I'll just suck it up and pay for the extra room. The guilt (and guilt trips laid by my oldest children about their disownment) was worse than the cost of the room. Ugh! Lesson learned.
Next: our evening in Kalispell. Yes...another story! Didn't I say this was going to be a long series?
-Laurel
2 comments:
We did the same thing last weekend.
That's how the cheap peeps roll!
I have no words.
I'm so...
proud of you!
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