Monday, August 10, 2015

The coffees keep coming

For those of you following this coffee saga, you know that I left off meeting my neighbor, a stranger, who became a coffee turned friend on the spot. That doesn't always happen, but it did in that instance, and we just realized this past weekend that we have only known each other a couple of months.

Sometimes my coffees are short and some evolve, but they keep changing me along the way, and I keep learning about people. And possibly about the point of this book. I think that's evolving, too.

I wanted to have a clear picture but like these unplanned adventures with the coffees, sometimes all you get is a foggy outline. 


I met an older man Steven today at a coffee shop. He's a writer slash life coach slash personal trainer. He told me if you come to him for personal training you might shed a few tears first because you have to get down to the whole mind/body/spirit thing. Pretty serious stuff.


I'm fairly certain he overheard the whole phone call I was on because he made some comment afterwards. Then he went on to talk with me about his writing and how he liked to be observant and talk to people randomly. Hmm, sounded familiar.

Talking with him was a little bit like looking into a mirror because he said he can pick up on conversations and things happening all around him, and it just all gets absorbed and then accounted for in writing at some point. Interesting. When I'm paying attention and able to see the world through eyes like that, I do the same thing. I used to think I was Harriet the Spy when I was younger.

Experiencing coffees doesn't have to look like busy, busy places and chatty people. Also, today, I went to a corner seat away from the hustle and read a book (I went a lot of places today). Sometimes, even then, you meet Lynn, who was in a terrible car wreck because she was hit as a pedestrian, but is doing better despite brain trauma. I didn't expect to learn anything when I sat down. I thought I needed time to be still. But, I am learning to be present with what each moment asks, whether it's quietness away from the crowd or taking a moment to listen.

I have a bit of flexibility with my time at the moment, and you'd think that would create in me a drive to seek people out. Actually, there's been people everywhere in this season and it's been a time of change so I haven't thought about the people of 87 Coffees that much. But.They.Won't.Be.Stopped. They keep happening.

Steven asked me how I became the person behind 87 Coffees. What made me want to write about that. That is a good question! See what I mean about looking into a mirror. That's something I would wonder about to someone else.

I guess as the picture gets clearer, I start to see the person God made me to be, just like when I meet other people, I can see it in them. I love people and I would have these unplanned adventures all the time if I could. Perhaps as the story unfolds, I'll understand things more, but for now I'm okay not knowing the why, just that I enjoy it and I hope the others do, too.