The Secret

The Secret 

My mother always told me the secret to being a good hostess is to treat your family like company and your company like family. 

In fact, I shared a story about that in the Chicken Soup for the Soul book titled “The Best Advice I Ever Heard.” They not only published it they did a podcast about it. Cool, huh?

It is good advice.

Mike and I recently hosted a couple from church for dinner. Those words rang in my ears as I prepared our house and planned the menu.

“Treat your family like company and your company like family.”

A couple of weeks later, Mike and I traveled to Ohio for a family visit. On the way we stopped at our favorite gas station, Buc-ee’s.

I first heard of Buc-ee’s while heading to South Carolina several years ago with my oldest daughter. Allision suggested we stop there for gas and maybe get something for breakfast. I don’t know about you, but I’m not generally keen on “gas station food.” Still, I figured there might be a McDonald’s or something nearby, so we watched for the signs with the big toothy beaver on them as we traveled the interstate. 

We pulled in and I was, at the very least, overwhelmed. Buc-ee’s is HUGE. I have never seen so many gas pumps. And the store inside? Crazy big…with the cleanest bathrooms I had ever experienced while traveling. And I have travelled a lot!

When Mike and I started dating, I told him about Buc-ee’s. I tried to describe it. I’m pretty sure the low gas prices caught his attention. But once he stopped there, he couldn’t help but take a long look at some of the large firepits they had for sale. The sandwich he bought was both a bargain and delicious and the number of gas pumps impressed him as it did me. 

(As a note on the side: On Christmas day last year, Mike and I saw families in their Christmas pajamas taking selfies at Buc-ee’s. Whole families. Seriously.)

Understand, this is not a commercial for the place, but an observation. 

Buc-ee’s is not a “gas station.” It isn’t a “restaurant,” either. Buc-ee’s is more of what I would call “an experience.” It may be because it is big. Make that… over the top. It could be the low gas prices or the good food. 

There is a possibility it is simply unique. At least I’ve never seen anyplace like it. The closest was the old Stuckey’s stores when I was a child. 

But I’m pretty sure there is more to it than the enormity of the place or the store or food or gas. The workers are smiling as if they are all genuinely happy to see customers walk through the doors. 

I’m thinking…perhaps…just maybe…my momma shared with them that one simple truth: “Treat your family like company and your company like family.”