I start a lot of my days getting b-fast at a locally-owned bagel joint. It's a way to start things off on a good note. No, make that a great note.
I pick up a few of the cruddy free newspapers (for my horoscope), get the egg sammy and a peppermint tea, sit at the table at the end of the service counter. That's where I hang out with three or four of my peeps from the hood. There's "A," a retired teacher who knows everyone; "K," a nanny, "I," "K"'s one-year-old charge, and sometimes "F" - a freelance contractor and onetime skateboard champ.
We may seem the unlikely group, but we've taken the time to get to know each other bit by bit. Sometimes we talk about neighborhood news; sometimes we talk about politics (today is was about how we've gone from slavery to feudalism to capitalism); sometimes we talk about our own lives. We make sure that one-year-old "I" is always looked after and entertained.
If someone is tired and grouchy, they don't say much at all and the others will pick up the slack.
We are all friends with "C," who works the cash register and sometimes joins in our conversations. Today, she looked at all of us sitting there and said "It's like you are The Breakfast Club."
Yeah, I guess that's what we are. I plan on showing up 'till forever.
1 comment:
I'd love to have a group like that! I've been thinking a lot lately about how I need to cultivate human support groups in "meatspace" and not just cyberspace. Good post!
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