A day at the coffee shop

So here I am sitting in a coffee shop surrounded by people of all sorts, shapes and sizes. We’re in the same room yet every one of us is in his or her own universe. To them I’m just a guy sipping a chai and typing on his computer. My leukemia is a hidden disease.

I wonder what they have hidden. The human condition is a plethora of sad and happy, bad and good, nervous and confident, afraid and joyful, sick and healthy.

Two boys, correction, young men––when you get my age everyone under 25 looks like they’re still in high school––are sitting at one of those tall round tables. Are they freaking out about finals week at our local university or just talking about girls?

A tall, slightly bent old man, well probably my age… jeez!… is at the counter ordering coffee. He’s smiling as he chats with the barista and she’s smiling back. He looks like he’s reached a point in his life where he’s at peace regardless of any physical ailments.

An older couple are having some sort of serious talk. Probably politics. God I hope not. We all waste too much time on politics. Now they’ve picked up their iPhones and are ignoring each other.

I hear laughter wrapping itself around a faux rock partition. It’s good to hear.

The sun is flowing through the two-sided, glass enclosed fireplace next to me. No fire in it today. No need. This is a beautiful and warm March day. Spring is nearly upon us.

No matter what we all might have hidden, no matter what the state of our universes, the sun and the laughter help us ignore it all. Today I and many of the people in here are just enjoying a cup and forgetting about life for awhile.

All is good.

[photo by Jazmin Quaynor]