Out with the Old

This morning I set out with the plan of writing at our local coffee shop. This shop is a coffee chain shop, but we all love it and you never leave there without seeing someone you know. This morning it is closed. After months of knowing it was being turned into a different chain shop the anticipation was that this coming Sunday would be their last day. It hit me hard to see all the windows papered up so you cannot see inside. It was also sad to know that I could not say hi to all me favorite people who worked there.

I had hoped for one more chance to chat with the friends I had made there, get the local scoop, write and soak up the familiar sounds and smells one last time. Driving up to see the papered windows hit me hard. Somehow I felt like I had let them all down because I was not there to give them a proper send off. I certainly was not their most loyal customer and I am sure that none of them were too worried that they did not hear from me, but my mind goes to weird places and so off I trotted to guilty town.

This shop will reopen in a few weeks (at least that is what they had told us) as a new shop and supposedly with the same crew, so things are not all bad, but I mourn the familiar. I will miss the easy comfortable place that was once there. I hope that when the new store opens I will be able be comfortable as I was before.

Change is always good, but hard to take whether it is expected or not. Things being the same are a very comfortable place to be and when the usual sameness is disrupted; we take a step back and remember what we are and who we are. If we are open the new whatever it is can be even better. If nothing else the new is a chance to stretch who we are and maybe even become even better ourselves.

Let us all now take a sip of coffee and toast to the future!