Last night while looking for a place to stay in Huntsville (Monte is here for business), I spied the Westin. Not usually one to stay at such an expensive hotel, we decided to stay in "heavenly" bliss anyway since it has an indoor/outdoor pool and it is connected to an outside mall with shops and restaurants which would give me a way to entertain CiCi without a car since Monte really needed the car for the day. My last stay at a Westin has to be one of the most emotional moments of my life. I don't know how other people react to smells, but certain smells can trigger all kinds of emotions within me. For some reason I didn't actually think of my pick up trip when I saw the Westin hotel while scouting the road for a place to stay. It wasn't until I stepped into the shower and began using the Westin shampoo that my emotions surfaced and then overwhelmed me. Here I am two years later with the most amazing little girl in the whole world watching Dora while I shower, happy and content knowing and owning me completely as her mom - no doubts, no fears, no tears. After my shower I am putting on lotion I brought from home while CiCi disappears into the bathroom. She comes out with the Westin lotion in her hand and asks me to open it. She then lathers herself in the smell of the Westin. A smell that brings back so many memories of my four stays at the Camino Re@l Westin in Guatemala. A smell that reminds me of the people I met -other adoptive moms, CiCi's beautiful foster mom and her family, the beautiful pool where I met so many wonderful people, the plush Westin bed, the Italian restaurant (that I still crave) connected to the hotel, and the fantastically scrumptious Westin breakfast, Guatemalan style. And here I am lathering my daughter in this smell - "heavenly"
bliss indeed.
Unfortunately, here at the Westin in Huntsville you have to pay 15$ per person extra for the non-Guatemalan style breakfast, there is not a 'to die for' Italian restaurant located within, and I am not in the company of wonderful moms with their Guat tots, but now that I will be bringing home a sample of the Westin's heavenly spa lotion I will have the smell of the Westin and my memories to sustain me.
And just because i read a very interesting article today that I thought my few readers may appreciate, I am posting it here.
