To my sweet little coffee shop,
I created a home in the middle of four walls that I do not own.
It was accidental, I promise. The first time I walked through your glass doors to talk to my friend about boys and heartbreak, I wasn’t expecting to find home around coffee cups. I simply walked into another shop that claimed to have good food and even better coffee, but for some reason, it was so much more than just good food and coffee.
My book bag was in the trunk of my tiny white car, and it was time for my friend to go back home. Something about the music and the people inside of the coffee shop made me feel like I needed to walk back into the shop and study, so I did. I stayed and studied.
Coffee shop, I don’t think you were coincidental. You’re located on the far corner of a busy intersection that connects all of my friends. Every single one of our houses is 15 minutes away from the smell of fresh coffee beans and chocolate muffins. We chose you to be our meeting spot, our study spot and our home.
You didn’t turn into home overnight; it was a lot of learning how to trust you. It was coming every single day with our book bags to sit on the red comfy chairs with our headphones and a cup of your finest coffee in our hands.
My friends and I began to morph your items into what we saw them as. The tables were more than just coffee tables; they became our dining room tables. We came together every day to sit and be intentional with each other, to say our words wisely and show love to each other every time we sat at the table.
I sometimes look at this coffee shop as my dorm room, and your couch is my bed—the best bed in all the land, and I’ve had many "almost-naps" on this couch. I’ve learned to always claim that couch when I walk into the shop.
The conference room revealed all of our secrets to one another. This separate room in the back of the shop allowed my friends and I to grow close. This room is where we began to love each other for the mess of struggles we all are.
It’s the outside of the coffee shop I think I’ve enjoyed most. It’s the moments where we get kicked out because it’s way past closing time and it’s time to lock up. We go into the parking lot to turn on some music and dance around, or we sit on the seats to watch the stars and giggle.
I’m one of the lucky ones to have this life with a place I can run to. It’s the place I spend most of my time at. It’s the place the employees are my friends. It’s the place that my friends and I are called the cast of “Friends.” It’s the place where the moments that shaped me unfolded.
It might be because of the way coffee dances down our throats. It might be the war that unfolds among customers over the last chocolate muffin of the day. It might be because the people who work there rock, but I just think some places are just meant to be yours. Some places are meant to make you feel like you are at home.
There are going to be these spaces in this world that you find an extreme amount of comfort in. Places that hold incredible memories and constantly allow you to smile. You deserve to have a place you can call your home even when it’s not really your home.
You deserve to have a place in which you can be fully and wholly you, a place where you always feel loved and cherished.
Daily Grind, I have found a home in you, and I’m forever grateful for the time we spend together.
P.S. I am so insanely grateful for those chocolate muffins.
