Encounters

 

It’s finally starting to happen - in a city of over 85,000 souls I’ve started encountering people.  People I know – I see them around town.  I bump into them at coffee shops and grocery stores.  We honk as we pass in traffic – hurried waves and bright smiles.  The baristas know my name, I have new drinks tried on me.  I’m a regular in parts of town.  Bumping into guys I know from the gym in bookstores.  Yakima is becoming home.  I’m putting high school football games on my calendar – all these encounters add up into community.  And faster than I realize a network of friends is taking root.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I find myself in Northtown again, listening to Nina Simone.  Thinking the night away.  I’m upstairs tonight – on the main floor.  A young girl sits just outside my window.  She is the spitting image of Boo from Monsters Inc. Her older sister is doing homework – Boo chews her gum with all the drama of a 5 year old, open mouthed and fast.  Her sister rolls her eyes and tries to work.  The lights have gone up and the store is a blaze with a yellow light that shines on a beautiful tin ceiling.  Couples stand in line – and wait for Joey to take their orders.  I can hear the steam, and the beans grinding.  Murmured voices, chairs slide and scrape over hardwood floors.  The sounds of a coffee shop in the evening hours.  People mingle together – people focus on their laptops – Boo chews her gum and swings her legs . . . old friends bump into each other – and start to cry . . . . footsteps on the landing, and laughter rolling, flowing up from stairwell.

All I need is the rain – the night is cool – and the tea is warm. 

 

 

I’ve got a pile of studying to work my way thru.

And as much as I love Billy, and Ella, and Nina – they are more conducive to reflection than to work.

 

 

So I change gears – CCR and black coffee are called for!!!