I am a stereotypical teenage girl, and because I am, I am a regular customer at everyone’s favorite coffee chain, Starbucks. So much so, that the people who work there became my friends and now, family. I’ve frequented my local Starbucks for about three years now and in seeing the same faces every day, conversations arise which turn to friendships. It began with them starting to remember my order, then my name, and next thing I knew we were friends on Facebook and they were coming to watch me in the school play. I’m not talking about just one barista becoming my friend, I’m talking the entire team. Since they’ve been so nice to me over the years, I figured I should publicly express my love for them.

Seeing your faces in the mornings brightened my days more than the sun itself. Instead of waking up in a crappy mood, I started to wake up excited because I knew in the next twenty minutes I would be at Starbucks talking to some of the people I enjoy the most. My mornings became more than an exchange of money and coffee, it became an exchange of what we were doing in our lives, and it was a genuine feeling of warmth and compassion. I grew so close to these people that they started to become actively involved in my life. When I’d tell them about how stressful rehearsals were for the school play, they asked when it was so they could go see it. When they would ask me how school was going and my tired eyes spoke for me, I got an iced coffee on the house. Before I left for college, I was treated to dinner and a movie.

They make me feel so loved and important, and it’s something I have never felt anywhere else. Sometimes, I’d walk into the store when I was having a bad day and them simply being themselves just made me ten times happier without them even knowing something was wrong. To my baristas turned my family, thank you for your unending kindness and unwavering support through the years. You have gotten me through my best and worst days, you always spell my name right and you are living proof that the “tall” things in life make a “venti” difference.