My stepfather is in the hospital right now. I went to visit him yesterday and as I entered the lobby of the hospital I spotted a Starbucks. Since it was morning time, and since I hadn’t had my normal amount of coffee yet, I got in line behind an elderly man who was wearing a Kansas City Royals’ baseball hat—ah, a fellow kindred spirit. The guy just wanted a “normal” cup of coffee. I giggled internally because I can relate. Several years ago, if you would have told me that I’d be ordering a vente skinny vanilla latte I wouldn’t have had a clue what you were talking about. Now it’s the only thing I order when I go to Starbucks.The barista handed the man an empty cup and pointed him to the self-service coffee pots at the end of aisle. I ordered my latte and as I was waiting for it to be made, I saw the same man trying to figure out how to get milk to come out of one of those steel containers you often see in coffee shops—the kind with the screw on lids. I went over to help him, but by the time I got over there, he’d screwed the entire lid off and just poured the milk in that way. It reminded me of something I would have done if I were in his position and I laughed a little.
“They don’t make getting a normal cup of coffee very easy in places like these, do they?” I said.
“They sure don’t,” he said and then he laughed.
That’ll be me in twenty years. Whatever the new trend is will befuddle me and I’ll struggle to figure out how to find my normal again. I won’t find it, but I’ll figure out a way to come as close as possible. I just hope I have the same gentle spirit as this man.
