HUMANS OF THE PFISTER | JULY 2016 | Continued

JULY 2016 EDITION

When do you feel most alive?  

When do you feel the freest?  

How do you pursue happiness?  

Feel free to send me a photo and an anecdote (more questions here) to hotelnarrator@gmail.com!

The following letter was sent to me by Marie Foote, who divides her time between San José, Costa Rica, and Denver:

“Hello Dominic,

“I grabbed your flyer from the 23rd floor of The Pfister Hotel–what a
fabulous idea to tell the stories of those of us who have been touched
by its historic & modern charms!

As I write this out, I am currently en route from Milwaukee to Chicago
with my husband and two children. We are happy Denverites, serving in
a coffee business and ministry in San José, Costa Rica. It just so
happens that we are family reunion-hopping this week (a grand total of
3, yes, THREE reunions!), before we wing our way to Costa Rica, to
renew our two year residency status so our work can continue.

“We had plans, initially, to stay at another hotel in the Milwaukee
area, but after our first night there, we realized that the atmosphere
–ahem, other obnoxious guests–would not be the cohabitants with
whom we’d love to share the next two days! So, we canceled our
reservation there and chose to stay at the Pfister. It was one of the
best gifts we could have been given this week! Every interaction we
had with the staff resulted in us feeling as though we were the only
people they were serving the entire time. The Pfister serves with
excellence and pleasure . . . and left us aching for more time there
than our two splendid days!

“You asked what my happiest memory has been . . . when I’ve felt fully
alive. That ‘moment,’ for me, has been a conglomeration of several
memories from the last 12 years, since we first held our daughter in
our arms. All of the moments, pieced together into one grand story of
love, are moments which include the three people who complete me the
most:

My husband, Jordan, my best friend and unfailing servant-companion
for 19 years; we have laughed and cried together on many international
journeys.

Our daughter, Megan, adopted since birth, who sprinkles a multitude
of drawings on scraps of paper in every corner of our world–her
artistic signature sealing a life-letter full of chatter, song and
compassion.

Our son, Micah, also adopted since birth, who can entertain a
roomful of incredulous adults with his Wikipedia-esque recitation of
random facts or humorous quips, and yet would rather eat a chocolate
donut with his Dad than do just about anything else.

Whether serving others in a tropical capital city, far from our
homeland, or receiving the gift of refreshment in a luxury hotel near
Lake Michigan, these three fellow travelers are the means by which God
gives me the strength to face each day, no matter what may come.
Living as an expat missionary in another culture is, at times, the
most trying task we have been given and yet, the joys which call to us
through every trial make every step worth the struggle. We have become
a family who travels well together, lives well together, loves well.

With them, traveling the world, I am fully alive.”

Here we are, in our living area on our last night at The Pfister (July 5, 2016), playing with our Mac’s Photo Booth app. Megan and I are in the robes provided by the hotel, after a late night snack from the lobby restaurant. The additional photos sum up who are in 3 snapshots. While the quality of the photos will never win an award, the “moments” they captured memorialize our side-splitting laughter and giddiness, for the joy of simply being together, without a care in the world. –Maria