Hotel Goodbyes
by Stephen Jon Thompson
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Pub Date Sep 10 2024 | Archive Date Sep 10 2024
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Description
Left with a gift, in a motel room in Reno
The Rubik’s cube was left behind, and so were they. It was January 1980, in a motel room in Reno. Stephen Jon Thompson was just nine years old, left behind with his four younger siblings, the youngest just a year old. Their mother had left two days before to go to the laundromat. She never returned. Now the power was out, the Nilla wafers were running low, and the Rubik’s cube that his mother had brought home from her waitressing job could not be solved. Stephen, the oldest, had a bigger problem to solve, what to do with the four young souls he was now in charge of. He finally determined they all needed to get out of that motel room. He dialed the front desk. Thus begins Hotel Goodbyes, Stephen Jon Thompson’s gripping memoir about making it American against incredible odds.
Few knew of Stephen’s past. Maybe he didn’t know it himself. For his colleagues at companies like Google, Apple, Amazon, or Nike, he was a successful human resource executive, who had an uncanny ability to read people, to find the right person for the job, and to convince them that it was right for them. More than anything, they remember his infectious smile. But that grinning face hid a difficult past, a childhood spent in dingy motel rooms, dreary foster homes, and a cold, concrete juvenile home. It took Stephen years to tell his story, to write his memoir, to come to grips with a childhood he would just as soon forget. But when his young son came home with a school assignment to tell his family history, Stephen knew he needed to come clean. He could no longer bury the past, not to his friends and co-workers, and not to his two sons, to whom this book is dedicated.
Hotel Goodbyes is one man’s journey to come to grips with his past. From Ohio to California to Nevada and back, Stephen takes us on his journey from foster child to wildfire fighter to college graduate to crapjack dealer to state assembly candidate to successful technology executive. Along the way, he reconnects with his younger siblings and tracks down his Aunt Ouida, his mother’s sister, to find the answer to the question he has always had: why did his mother leave that day and never come back? In the end, Stephen determines that his mother abandoned him, but also left him with a gift, a gift of a better life.
Advance Praise
“An extraordinary story of resilience. In his moving memoir, Stephen Thompson opens up about how he broke cycles of abuse, poverty, and neglect to build a better life. It’s filled with lessons for anyone who’s ever questioned their resolve.”
Adam Grant
#1 New York Times bestselling author of Hidden Potential and Think Again
“This is one of the most powerful, vulnerable, and triumphant stories of perseverance and optimism I have read. It hits hard and hits quickly. Pain and determination. Hope and reality. The storytelling transports me to a familiar era long ago. It zooms in closely to personal circumstances and then zooms out for context to cultural, political, and economic events. It gives you a sense of the zeitgeist. I hope this connects with readers as quickly and deeply as it did with me.”
Bernard Bedon, Ph.D.
Vice President, Lead HRBP for Nike
"Stephen tells his powerful and deeply personal story of overcoming hardship and adversity through sheer strength of will, determination, and courage. Showing incredible vulnerability, he opens up his life to fully expose the pain and intense trauma he experienced throughout his childhood. His journey reveals how from impossible circumstances the human spirit can persevere to achieve success and ultimately triumph. So many of us worked with Stephen for years and only saw the focused, talented professional building marquee companies not realizing where he started and what he faced growing up. Stephen's story is one of true inspiration."
Arnnon Geshuri
Former Senior Director Global Recruiting at Google, Inc.
Featured Reviews
Kelly L, Librarian
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
I first saw the Reno arch on the cover and was intrigued because I lived near Reno in the 1980s and spent a lot of my youth there. Then I continued to read what the book was about and I had a feeling it would be a good book. I was not disappointed!
This is well written book. It's amazing to see how well Steve broke the cycle. He had such natural insight at such a young age!
TUDOR Q, Reviewer
Stephen was just 9 years old in 1980 when his mother Brenda abandoned him and his four younger siblings, the youngest 1 year old, leaving them in a motel room in Reno, Nevada. He summoned common sense and inner strength to handle this crisis and many others, forced to grow up well beyond his years. I marveled at his ability to keep his younger charges entertained and fed, even if it was only Nilla wafers and tap water available. He endured unspeakable heartbreak such as intense hunger, militant foster care situations, and family separation. I was impressed with his appreciation of the simple basic foundations in life that most children take for granted, but were so difficult for Stephen to experience- having a safe home, ample food, freedom of expression, and most of all- loving parents. His story exposed cracks in the system that leave abandoned kids such as him in further unsafe environments, but also the beauty of giving souls who will step up to sacrifice and save a life.
This was a very real, authentic, sobering, and inspirational memoir. The writing style was natural and pleasant to digest. I usually will read as many as three books simultaneously, but this memoir's raw and emotional story grabbed me by the heartstrings as I binge read it to its satisfying conclusion. I have incredible admiration and respect for the author and wish him well for the rest of his life.
Thank you to the publisher Forbes Books for providing an advance reader copy via NetGalley.
Mark L, Reviewer
Every few weeks, I scroll through the books on Netgalley to see if anything new pops out to me; this one did.
His mother was never reliable and any money that came in, went out immediately. There was no father (well, he met his dad a few times, but nothing to look up to as a role model). All he had was his siblings whom he would do anything for. Some family members did try and help them with food and shelter, but it was never a long term solution.
At the age of 9, Stephen was abandoned by his mother in a hotel in Reno, Nevada, and he took the responsibility of taking care of his 4 younger siblings after that happened.
This book tells the extraordinary story of his survival, not only of his, but also of his siblings. He went through foster care in Nevada, and eventually a family friend took him in as one of their own. He did get separated from his siblings, and when they found each other a little while later, the reunion made me shed some tears of happiness.
One thing I read in the description on Netgalley, but there wasn’t much on it in the book, was his job as a human resource executive for several of the top companies in the world. I would’ve liked to read that, but maybe he is saving that for a future book.
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