I like the title, it sounds more dramatic and mysterious than the situation really is, so we’re rolling with it.
I’m sitting in a coffee shop right now, waiting for a business appointment later this evening. I’m doing something I really don’t feel like I’ve had a chance to do in a while, killing time. It’s kind of nice to sit back, listen to some music, and just unwind the mainspring of my mind a little. So, this may ramble a bit.
The funny thing about these coffee shops, each one seems to have a bit of their own personality to them. This one is in North Charleston, near a local college. It’s busy, a lot of the people are doing the same thing (studying for their next class), some are solo, some are in small groups, text books & laptops open as they scribble notes. A few people meeting before or after work. But my sense is no one really knows anyone. I’ve been here before, usually my self before a class. It’s kind on impersonal I guess. Almost like feeling alone in a crowd. There is a coffee shop in Summerville called Coastal Coffee Roasters, closer to home which has a more interesting personality. People know each other, say hi & bye. It’s close to their home, its a common meeting place, nice to relax in. I’ve met the owner, toured the area where they roast their own beans, I know his daughter was attempting a through-hike of the AT this year, not sure if she completed it, I’ll need to stop back by there and check. It’s a much homier hangout. I don’t get by there as much as I did earlier this year (pesky work thing going on and all).
The last few month have been busy for me, or at least they feel like I’ve been busy. Partly because the commute back and forth is mostly an hour each way to anywhere. Right now it serve the purpose, so I put up with it. Fortunately, there are weekends. But even they seem to fly by now. I kind of miss the days when I could walk up the street and “hang out” at another then my neighborhood coffee shop. At one point it was almost like stepping into the bar on “Cheers.” You know, it was the kind of place where everyone knows your name. Sadly these kinds of experiences are fleeting. Staff changes, customers change, and poof it’s gone. Unfortunately there isn’t a hang-out like this in the quaint little town of Dorchester where I live now with Brenda, Radar, and a small herd of assorted others.
Our little town just isn’t quite big enough for such things as a coffee shop yet, but I suspect it may soon work it’s way there some day. I do think I like our town. We don’t have any stop lights (I hate stop lights and my kids will attest to my feelings of a government conspiracy related to them), we do have a Post Office (our own little federal building), a gas station-convenience store, and a cute new little farmers market called Ray-O-Sunshine. A family operation which should do well, they keep adding items and are growing smartly. We’ll see how things go. I can see the town incorporating some day soon, if we don’t we’ll be pushed under by the development heading our way. South Carolina continues to grow, and when you run out of “city” you dig up the country to make more city. Who knows, maybe I can run for mayor, the commute will be shorter.
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