Lauren Jones: Full Circle to "My Home Away From Home" at French Lick Resort

French Lick Resort is my happy ending. 

It's my full-circle moment.

It's when everything clicked and made sense, after so many months of nothing making sense. 

But, gosh, getting here has been a journey in itself. One that I'm not quite sure can be explained in a sentence, a paragraph, or a blog post, but rather only meant to be felt, experienced, and enjoyed. 

My journey to this little slice of heaven began many years ago, long before I could even fathom that I'd one day call this place my home away from home. 

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Hi everyone, my name is Lauren Jones. 

I'm a Hoosier at heart, born and raised in Southern Indiana. A native of Columbus, Indiana, where I spent my childhood running through corn fields, and catching lightning bugs. 

From an early age, I knew the sunshine, stars, and everything in between spoke to me. I felt destined to be a meteorologist, staring at the 24-hour looping radar on our clunky TV, and hiding in our bathtub with my stuffed animals when storms rolled through and shook my tiny town. As I got older my fear of storms grew, and I knew the only way to overcome it was to educate myself. So I did just that, and went to college for broadcast meteorology.

My first job was at Fox 7 in Evansville, followed by WLKY in Louisville, Fox 59 News in Indianapolis, and most recently WAVE 3 News in Louisville. My role there expanded from meteorologist to Sunrise News anchor. I loved my job, and tolerated the hours.

My alarm went off at 2:00 a.m. during the week, so catching up on sleep and relaxing during the weekend became a way of life. With three kids, and a husband who also works a morning shift in television (Jude Redfield, WDRB News) it wasn't always easy to do.

But we managed, at French Lick Resort. 

From the first time I stepped foot on the property when I was younger, I fell in love. It was this huge, magical place that reminded me of the movie “The Secret Garden”: beautiful, well-manicured gardens; bold, luxurious furnishings; and marble staircases that emanated elegance. I've grown up since then, and I've grown to appreciate its ambiance even more. 

There aren't many places that make you feel right at home, and on a luxury vacation, all at the same time. Season after season and year after year, the resort’s charm kept my family and me coming back. And then COVID-19 hit, and our lives — like many of yours — changed forever. But one thing that stayed constant was our love for French Lick Resort. 

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In November of 2020 I tested positive for COVID-19. I thought I'd be in quarantine for two weeks and back to my chipper self, a loving wife and mom, and a dedicated morning news anchor at a place I had called home for a decade. 

Unfortunately, life had other plans.

I didn't recover like I assumed I would, and I became a COVID-19 longhauler. I was forced to leave my dream job, one I had worked towards my entire life. If I'm being honest, I was physically and emotionally shattered, broken, and lost. It was without a doubt the hardest time in my life. But I'm grateful for it now, because it led me down a beautiful path I never could've imagined. 

The first place I visited when I felt well enough to leave the house was West Baden Springs Hotel. I needed a good night’s sleep, and my goodness if you've never slept on a Bowles mattress before (the ones they have at West Baden Springs Hotel) then you've never slept!

It didn't matter if I was miserable, ecstatic, or anything in between — every time I walked into the atrium at West Baden Springs Hotel, or the lobby of French Lick Springs Hotel, it took my breath away.

I immediately felt calm, relaxed, and ready to take on the world. 

As I continued to recover from COVID-19, I knew I needed to surround myself with positive people, in a positive space where I could heal. A fast-paced, high-stress newsroom that I was used to my entire adult life, wasn't that. 

I will always be a journalist at heart. I had the great responsibility and privilege of talking to people, many times on their worst days, and walking away with more than just a story. I learned something, and felt something, because of every person I met while working in television, both while on the job or in the grocery store when someone would stop me to chat. 

That part of my life made me who I was, but COVID-19 changed me.

It changed who I was at the core. I wanted to be part of someone's happiest day, and not their saddest. I wanted to share joy, instead of heartbreak. And when the opportunity came to work at French Lick Resort, it felt natural and made sense. 

After more than a decade of being a devoted guest, I am beyond grateful to say I'm now an employee. I'm blessed to be a member of the resort’s incredibly talented marketing team, and now I can shout it from the mountaintops how amazing this place really is! It's a gem in Southern Indiana, and a short drive for my friends in Kentucky. From world-class spas, to equally breathtaking golf courses, a smoke-free casino, delicious restaurants, hiking, biking, horseback riding, shopping, pools, and more, the resort is my new home away from home.

It's become my full-circle moment.

Whether I need a date night with my husband, a night out with my girlfriends, or a staycation with my three kids, there's something to be said for doing everything you want (or nothing at all) and still loving every minute of it.

I'm lucky to have found just that at French Lick Resort, and I hope you'll be my guest — and enjoy its magic just as much as I do.