Aug 31: Coffee Chat

One of life's pleasures is meeting for coffee in the morning with a friend. Or maybe meeting a friend for coffee in the afternoon. That works for me too. But somehow starting the day with a quality cup of strong coffee along with a nice pastry and some wonderful conversation - that's a good morning by my standards. I was thinking about that over the weekend because I joined my pal Heather on Friday for a light breakfast at CroissanTime. I've blogged recently about this pleasant Fort Lauderdale café so I won't go into details again now. Except to say that it does indeed serve quality strong coffee and excellent homemade French pastries. I scarfed down a raspberry beignet on Friday. Yum.

The conversation was wonderful as well. The whole experience just emphasized for me the importance of getting out, breaking our daily routine, connecting with people. The Fort Lauderdale area is filled with lovely little spots that are perfect for these coffee chats. Whether CroissanTime or Starbucks, Lola's CupCakery or Two Street Coffee Garage, they offer a way to share part of our day with someone we enjoy in an environment conducive to good conversation.

The other thing that strikes me about such café sessions is that they're affordable for nearly anyone. Even during times when we may feel a little money-challenged. Arguably, those are among the moments when we most need this kind of brief getaway, and this kind of human connection. There's nothing worse than sitting around alone and worrying about our problems, is there? But once we make ourselves roll out of bed and head off to meet a friend, we soon find those problems don't seem quite so daunting. Friday was a good example of this. I've had lots on my mind lately, much of it good but also challenging in one way or another. Heather is a delightful woman, a psychologist who has traveled a hefty chunk of the world. She has a charming sense of humor and an engaged, open mind and I look forward to our chats. I was tired when I arrived at the café on Friday morning - but Heather quickly perked me up. We talked about nearly everything, from our families to religion to life on Guam. How's that for an eclectic mix of topics? When I left, I felt recharged and ready for the rest of my day. I suspect Heather also took something good away from our one-and-a-half-hour get together. That seems a pretty decent return on the investment of a little effort on our part and maybe $10 for two breakfasts. It's easy to get bogged down in those daily routines I mentioned or to sit around worrying alone or to let our money challenges isolate us, I think. Friday was a reminder that coping with these things sometimes can be fairly simple too.