June 22, 2007

Making Space for Other People

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 7:43 am

I've been thinking . . .

about hospitality.

My Italian grandmother, Liza, was born in an Italian village near Modena. It is called Ospitale. The name means It accommodates them — hospitality. Perhaps her origins had something to do with how a saloon came to be her work and . . . later that of her two sons.

Hospitality . . . my grandmother knew what it meant. Though she never had but a few words of English when I visited her as a child, even in my youngest years, we always communicated with out frutration. Most of what she said was with her smile, her eyes, the tone of her voice, and her facial expressions. The memory of us spending time making surprised faces at each other still delights me and is the first that comes to mind when I think of sitting at her dining room table.

Her dining room table. We sat at her dining room table. Folks in the Illinois village of Italian immigrants, where she lived in my lifetime, enjoyed it at her tavern there. She welcomed everyone there as she welcomed folks into her home, by making room for them. I could see it in her smile, her eyes, the tone or her voice, and facial expressions. I bet she learned those in Ospitale.

Hospitality is a warm and cordial welcome to my friends and their friends and strangers who will soon be friends. It’s making room. It’s finding a place at the table, on the couch, and in the conversation for their presence and their ideas. It’s offering them what they need to feel at home and to let self-consciousness fall away from them.

Today and through the weekend I’ll have guests.

My goal is to extend the warmest hospitality.

I want to welcome, entertain, protect, and serve each person with generosity. Blog reading is so tied to conversation. Hospitality and blogging belong together.

And for my guests at home . . . I’ll offer generous hospitality there too.

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7 Comments to “Making Space for Other People”

  1. June 22nd, 2007 at 10:56 am
    gp said

    ah a subject near and dear to this innkeeper’s heart. I think the seeds of it were sown for me as a kid when we had our annual summer vacations in the Adirondacks at the Pine Hill Arms. The innkeepers and the guests (who we all knew) made you feel more like it was a family reunion. Wrote about it here.

    http://fishcreekhouse.blogspot.com/2007/06/hostwomanship.html

    Those of us raised up down home…
    gp in montana

  2. June 22nd, 2007 at 11:01 am
    ME Strauss said

    Ah GP,
    You are generous hospitality. Now we know where that voice and warmth comes from. :)

  3. June 23rd, 2007 at 5:53 pm
    Maria Palma said

    Oh, synchronicity is a splendid thing! I was JUST working on a post about hospitality, when I was prompted to visit your blog!

    I truly believe that it is hospitality that is the key to peace on earth…

  4. June 23rd, 2007 at 8:24 pm
    Angela said

    I bet your Grandma’s place was as homey and pleasant as my Grandma’s. The kitchen table was The Place in her home which was an old stagecoach stop converted into a farm home on one of the highways going into Memphis from Chattanooga.

    Funny you should blog about this. I was thinking how to make my blog more hospitable earlier today. I decided to add a warm southern welcome to new readers on my blog using the What-Would-Seth-Godin-Do plugin that encourages new readers to subscribe.

    Hopefully they’ll feel welcomed, enjoy their stay, and come back to visit again. :-)

  5. June 24th, 2007 at 8:05 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Maria!
    Have you noticed that the word itself, hopitality doesn’t seem to be used on the Internet much. It seems like one we should bring into this culture. :)

    I believe that you could be right . . . if it’s not the key, its the way to find the key. :)

  6. June 24th, 2007 at 8:07 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Angela!
    A warm Southern welcome is a lovely idea. Sounds like you’re just the person to carry it through every day in whet you write. :)

    Gosh your Grandma’s place sure sounds wonderful!

  7. June 26th, 2007 at 7:57 am
    pelf said

    I am generally very warm and hospitable - unless somebody I’ve just met pissed me off. I’ve met “guests” who are downright rude who think that they deserved to be treated like princesses..

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