Our home away from home: Part One

    Inquiring minds have wanted to know: What's it like to live at a Hope Lodge?  We wondered (a lot) about this, too, as we were making our preparations to move here.  Now that we've been here a week as of today, we're ready to file a report on All Things Hope Lodge.

    Without a doubt, the most predominant feeling around this place is gratitude.  Everybody here knows that, having gotten one spectacularly unlucky roll of the dice (the Big C), s/he then has rolled a couple of fortunate ones: first, being accepted into some kind of treatment program and, second, getting a space here at the Hope Lodge, where patients and caregivers can stay at no cost for the duration of their treatment programs.

    The whole idea of these lodges is pretty incredible, kind of like Ronald McDonald Houses for big people.  While there are Hope Lodges in quite a few different locations in the U.S., we're in one of the newest ones.  Everything here was designed to make getting through an extensive treatment program away from home do-able, from both a logistical and a psychological perspective.

    When we knew that P. was going to need these treatments, but before we knew about these lodges, we thought that we would end up in an anonymous hotel room off somewhere in the city, or in a cramped and dreadful short-term apartment.  We'd pictured trudging back from the hospital to some such place these dark winter evenings and just being there, alone and worrying about the bills mounting up.

    What we have instead is our own airy little suite that includes a living room, bedroom, and bath--all nicely furnished and decorated in soft, restful colors.  And we have access to all of the rest of the facilities of the lodge, including larger living rooms on each floor, a game room, laundry rooms, computer rooms, a room for yoga and meditation, a small library, and little reading nooks scattered here and there in quiet spaces.

    All of this is wonderful, of course, but the heart of the place is the kitchen, like in most any home.  Surrounded by natural light, this lodge's kitchen includes a fully equipped kitchen "pod" in each corner with tables for four clustered in the middle of the room.  Having food in the suites is verboten, ostensibly to keep the furnishings in the suites in good condition.  That's probably true, but I think the real reason for this rule is to get everybody out of their suites for at least part of the day so they can mingle a bit.  And mingling with people who are dealing with something like what you're going through is just good medicine.