Letter to the Editor
We live in central Florida. I have two little boys so we decided it was best to evacuate. My 85-year-old grandmother followed us as we were trying to get to my mother's in Tennessee.
Due to traffic, traveling was a nightmare and we took the back roads which is what brought us to Alabama. We had a long night and ended up in a hotel room with a full-size bed for the 5 of us (including my husband and our dog).
We were so tired but after living on McDonald's wanted real food. We decided to stop at the Ruby Tuesday in Cullman.
My husband had a set of keys so we left the dog in a running car and asked to sit where we could see the car. I'm sure we walked in there looking like a mess. The hostess that sat us gave us an awesome window view.
Our server was Nick; he was AMAZING. We didn't have to say much; I'm not sure if the sheer exhaustion gave it away, but he probed with some questions where we explained we had evacuated. He told us that they were trying to help evacuators by providing a discount. I almost cried, it was honestly the first bit of compassion we'd seen our entire trip. The manager came over to check on us and make sure we knew they would take care of us extra special. My grandma ordered one baked potato and we got two. My boys wanted to eat off my salad bar plate and he said let them have one don't worry about it.
The whole dinner experience made us feel so welcome and taken care of. They embodied the true spirit of America in crisis, where we all look out for each other. Our family could not be more grateful.
Cara Dunford Holt
