Anjelica with the smiley "c"

We never give housekeeping staff any thought.

We check into the hotel, get into our impeccably tidy room, sleep off the fatigue, and after pulling ourselves together the next day, leave the room to do the tourist thing in town. At day's end, we drag our weary bodies back into the tidied and picked up room and start the whole process again.

We never see the housekeeper whose job it is to make the bed, vacuum the carpet, replace the used bath towels, replenish the toiletries so that we always come back to a room that's spick and span.

So it was recently, with the invisible housekeeper tidying up my room unfailingly, turning a well appointed room into a perfect comfortable retreat at the end of the day.

Then, on the third day, I noticed a folded note propped up against the table lamp. The words, "Have a good day. Housekeeper Anjelica" were carefully written in a childish scrawl, and the letter "c" was stylised into a smiley emoticon. It brought a smile to my face and a cheer to my spirit.

I scribbled on the back of her note, "Thank you. You have a great day too. (my name)" and left it in the same spot for her.

I came back and found her new note: "Thank you. Housekeeper Anjelica" with the letter "c" smiley.

As I readied to check out the next day, I walked down the corridor looking for Anjelica. A housekeeper told me Anjelica had the day off. I did the next best thing I could to reach out to her. I wrote on the reverse side of her note, "Anjelica, thank you for making my stay special. (my name)" and dropped it off with a tip in a sealed envelope at the front desk.

I hope I will meet her someday, somewhere - Anjelica with the smiley "c".