"Thoughts from a Coffee House "
Saturday night in Costa Mesa California. Totally Coffee: a small, friendly, colorful coffee house next to my new apartment complex. Propagated by lots of long hair, lots of music, lots of smiles. Kinda like a rag tag family kind of thing.
I'm sitting, thinking, listening at the counter. Nothing like the smell of a coffee house. Mocha and Cappuccino. Sugar and cream. Cookies and caffeine. Decadent. Unhealthy. Oh so tasty. An absolute celebration of the senses. The walls are blended with six or seven shades of paint. Local artists decorate with their imagination. And neon illuminates the calendar on which I write.
Comfortable. Friendly. Not a bad place to hang out, I think. Seems a little different or off the wall, but then again, so am I. I sit and watch the brass and lacquer ceiling fan turn slowly above me. Slowly reflecting the flashing Christmas lights on the ceiling while ragae music hangs in the air. Those fans can often be quite captivating if you think about it. A shiny, moving set of blades, quietly making the heavy air just a little more bearable. Always turning.
Hypnotic almost.
Gets me thinking about the cycles our lives go through. The subtle rhythms of our experiences and the overlapping circles of our daily routines .
So I sit and savor the last lingering flavor of mocha on my breath and the buzz of the caffeine in my stomach while taking in the music and color. But, mostly the people. Lots of people. Lots of stories. Different pasts. Different dreams. Different pains. Gathered to talk or read. Drink and laugh. A place to settle into a neutral gear for a while. Coast on the sugar and caffeine while Bob Marley wails on the radio. A place to relax and smile until our routine of work and school, of bills and traffic claims our attention once again. Making the heavy air a little more bearable.
And the fan turns slowly on...
