“We want to come for Eric’s Berkeley graduation,” my sister-in-law said. I just about dropped my phone. We’ve lived in the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area since the 80s and she’s never come to visit us! True, it’s just us out here. When we used to fly back to New York every summer during the kids’ childhoods, we got to see grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, former neighbors and high school pals. But still. We just happen to have a few things for folks to see besides our adorable children. There’s the Golden Gate Bridge, Napa Valley, Yosemite, Alcatraz, Monterey and a few redwoods here and there.
“Well, that would be very nice,” I weakly replied. Geez, why is she doing this now? Is it out of guilt? Just because we attended her daughter’s high school and college graduations? Those shouldn’t count. Those events just happened to coincide with us being on the East Coast. Molly’s June high school graduation occurred during a summer vacation trip. And four years later, her graduation from a small ivy-covered college was during a very cold and snowy May, just a few days after my father-in-law’s funeral. My husband figured we may as well stay a few extra days, rent a van, get a hotel room and take my mother-in-law to the graduation to cheer her up.
Luckily, we found a Sleep Inn where we all were very comfortable. The rates were great and yet we felt like we were in a luxury hotel. Our family of five had a super large room with two kings and a roll-away. Nonna Angela had the privacy of a room all to herself. Best of all were the warm comfortable beds and welcoming breakfast buffet. We awoke to pastries, hot and cold cereals, eggs, yogurt, fresh fruit and freshly brewed coffee.
“I’ll check if there’s a Sleep Inn near us,” I said as I flipped open my laptop. Cleverly, I went to the Coupon Cactus website. I got my sister-in-law and her family 2 free nights and 2% cash back by using a Sleep Inn coupon found on Coupon Cactus. Now to plan the itinerary.
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