a starbucks homecoming

It was nearing the end of the second day I had been home.  I had been gone for a full week.
The two of us walked to Starbucks.  We met another friend.  Bear hugs were exchanged.
We chose a table, just the two of us.
For the next two hours we covered it all.  Friends, children, siblings, homework, saline, gingerbread, and elephant seals.  We groaned, laughed, rolled our eyes, and received text messages.
After mulling over the problems of our small world we determined that we could solve none of them.  After some thought we decided that the Christmas blend would not be improved by the addition of mistletoe.  After two hours we still had so much to say.

nicole's story (a guest post)

I wrote a song for my grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary.  It was short and sweet and sounded like it belonged in the 1950s.

When I was in the studio recording it, the engineer put up a screen in front of the mic.  "It's a popper-stopper," he said.  "It is to make sure you don't pop your p's."

"Oh," I responded immediately, without even thinking.  "There are no p's in the song," I told him.  

He read the lyrics and looked askance at me.  There really were no p's.

california thanksgiving

He is five years old.  He wears blue glasses and his hair is very straight and brown.  He is high energy, loves trains, and really likes the movie Happy Feet.

I am twenty-one.  My socks never match and my hair is reddish and unruly.  My energy comes in fits and starts, I love stories, and really like drinking coke.

We are fast friends.

a fabulous family

We were gathered around the dinner table the night before I left for a week of Thanksgiving vacation with my boyfriend's family.  I have five siblings.  It is a fairly large family.
It was the first holiday my entire family would not be together and everyone felt rather ceremonial and solemn.  My mother made a point of getting everyone's attention and saying a few words about the transition our family was going through and how important it all was.
"Does anyone have anything they would like to say to Molly before she goes?"  She asked.
Without missing a beat, my entire family says, in unison, "Bye Molly!"

an eager editor

I left a paper covered in my professor's notes in the campus Starbucks.  When I got it back, some other student had added his notes to the entire thing, suggesting edits and making comical remarks in the margins.

a friendly fellow

I was waiting in the airport for my plane to begin boarding.  A small boy sat beside me.  He played his DS for a while, laughing evilly every time he beat a bad guy and making all the sound effects himself.  Growing  bored of this he decided to take pictures, ask me what my favorite color was (which is green, even though I was wearing a blue scarf.  it's true.), and find out how old I am.
He and his mother boarded the plane before me.  When I passed them on my way to my seat, he patted the space by them saying, "sit here with us!"

serenade

Night was falling.  I was washing the front window of the bakery where I worked.
As I stood there, scrubbing away at the glass, a group of boys in their early teens approached on the sidewalk.  Distracted by mentally re-hashing the events of the day, I didn't pay them any attention.
Once they came to where I stood, they paused for a moment.  Then, as they turned to move on, they began to sing to me.
"This is the night, it's a beautiful night, and we call it bella notte!"

a well-meant wish

I was picking up donuts for my morning prayer group.  This was two days before Halloween.  Dunkin was giving out Halloween-themed reusable bags with adorable little spiders on them.  As my cashier tucked the Halloween bag in with my donuts he said,
"Have a good Christmas!"
He was serious.
Thanks, man, I'll remember to do that in a few months.

a confused customer

I was working at a bakery.  A customer approaches the counter and squints at various items on the shelves behind me.
She reads a sign.
"What are "breadsticks"?"
I blink.
"Beg pardon?"
"Breadsticks.  What are they?"
"Um.  Sticks... of bread."
"Oh!"  Her eyes brighten with understanding.  "I'll take three."

a bonkers barista

My friend and I sat in a coffee shop chatting.  The barista sat just outside finishing a smoke break in conversation with a friend.  He walks inside and we catch the end of his impassioned speech.

"Butterflies die every night and come to life in the morning!  So do unicorns!  So do sea urchins!"

chivalry happens

I was standing outside of the bakery waiting to be picked up after my shift.  Two young men approached, using foul language at high volume.  As they drew nearer, one of them noticed me and hit his friend.
"Hey man, shut up!  There's a lady there!"
When he reached the bakery, he nodded and greeted me.
"Sorry about that.  You have a nice night."
They didn't continue their conversation until they had reached the corner.

a bold bachelor

I was in physical therapy, recovering from Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis at the age of eighteen.

As I lay on the table performing my simple exercises, I watched all the old people shuffling around.  Then, I noticed one of them shuffling toward me.  He smiled at me, I smiled back, then he walked over to a nurse.
"Can I have a piece of paper?"  He asks.  "And a pen?"
She gave him what he asked for and he scrawled a few words.  Then he shuffled toward me again.  He was probably near ninety, and wizened as they come.
He handed me the piece of paper.
"Give me a call sometime."  He said, and winked.

The paper had his number on it.

A caring citizen

On the night of Barak Obama's first State of the Union Address, a group of my friends and I were standing around outside a McDonalds.  The Address was showing on the televisions inside.  A man emerges from the establishment shouting.
"Obama is in there giving his State of the Union speech and you're out here standing around!"
We stare.  He forges ahead.
"Obama is God!  I listen to everything he says!"
"What is he talking about?"  My friend calmly tries to make this an ordinary conversation.
"The State of the Union!"  He replies, still shouting.
"If he's God," My friend asks, "Why aren't you in there listening to him?"
"I'm streaming it on my iphone!"  The man exclaims, holding that particular piece of technology aloft proudly.
He begins to walk away across the parking lot.  Another member of the group repeats my friend's question.
"What is he talking about?"
The man shouts back an answer right before getting into his car.
"I don't know!"

A problem-solving professor

In the middle of her lecture, her phone rings.  It wasn't a particularly loud ring, or even a particularly annoying, but by virtue of ringing at all, the phone offended her.

Mid-sentence, my professor turns, snatches up her entire bag, opens the classroom door, and deposits the offending item in the hallway.

She shuts the door after it, turns back to the class, and continues teaching as if nothing had happened.

Five minutes later, she begins to frown a bit and seems distracted.

"I'm sorry, I'm kind of paranoid."

My professor opens the door and brings her bag safely back into class.