When I was younger clichés were, in my opinion, cop-outs.  Easy little sayings that could be thrown out in conversation to get you through a situation.  “Meaningless” and “unoriginal” was how I viewed those “cute little sayings”.

Today I wonder why it was so important to be original.

If I have said, ” why re-invent the wheel,” once I have said it hundreds of times…. and as far as clichés go, they really make a lot of sense to me now that I am older (*but not too old*).

Perhaps there is a sense of comfort in the “tried and true”.  A feeling of connection to others that have used the same expression can give a feeling of powerful calmness.  A sense of belonging, to something larger than us ” is not something to be taken lightly”.

I was watching something on the television the other night, where the commentator said “In the past # (meaning every one of them, I just don’t remember the number) of recessions, what holds true is that people come ‘back to the basics’ and enjoy the ’simple things in life’”.

For example - last year I started to hang my clothes out to dry. This seemed like a cool idea, exercise carrying all the laundry up and down the stairs, saving money and the planet all at the same time. I even wrote an interesting speech recounting my youth and the hanging out of laundry. Of course back then all I wanted was a dryer so things would be nice and soft.  But now we see the clothesline as a “win - win” all around.

Then there is our garden; tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, and a smattering of herbs. Let’s not forget the compost, or maybe we could. . . Not as easy as you may think.  There are the bugs and the squirrels and the opossums, all vying for a piece of the organic produce. I just succumbed and started chanting “what goes around comes around” believing that we would all get our “fair share”. Which we did, because by the end of the summer, the critters got tired of zucchini too.

So what is so cliché about the Stanford Terrace Inn or the running of it, I am not sure.  I do know that by being here for 18 years I may have become a cliché myself. But does that matter in the “long run”?  Probably not.  We are just “staying the course”.  Everything has kind of come “full circle”, we are now the “new luxury”, and staying at full service, five star brand is not something to brag about.  Well not for most of us anyway.  “Back to the basics” and a whole lot more.  Palo Alto’s premier “home away from home” hotel.
Shanti to all,

Barbara