The hot sips of bean-infused flavour sharpen my senses as my mind wanders on. Nearby, a lovestruck couple gazes into each others eyes, the male doing his best to impress "the girl" with a cheesy grin, telling stories not only with his lips but his elevator-active eyebrows. Beside me a young businessman sighs as he stares at a paperback novel killing time softly while straightening out his crumpled suit. He must be a slow reader as I haven't seen him actually thumb a page. He seems to be hoping his coffee will wake him up for a busy day ahead of him - perhaps a boring meeting awaits him?
Living in the city of Winnipeg this lonely week away from family and friends blesses me with time for some introspection. My momentary stop in this trendy coffee haunt certainly allows me to catch my breath, unwind and reflect. Questions continue to swirl in my mind... where am I going in this crazy world I am living in? It has been a restless year and I'm searching for direction.
I love teaching, seeing young minds develop and explore new ideas and thoughts build my passion. I move when I teach, almost dancing with the words I weave to bring across an idea, a concept, a paradigm that hopefully will bring change. So here I sit in reflection sipping my java. What's next? What new adventure awaits? I pray silently for my family and future explorations...
A tattooed, army fatigue wearing young mom wheels in her sleeping infant and takes the spot of the businessman that vacated his seat moments ago. Salt-polluted slush drips off the wheels of her baby carrier while the small boy seated inside sleeps on. His mother is doing her best to not fit the "mother-stereotype" wearing her dark hair in teen-girl ponytails and concealing her worn eyes with blue-tinted glasses much too big for her face. She hums a wandering tune out of sync with the tribal-inspired groove that dominates the atmosphere of this resting stop. Her cool life seems interrupted by motherhood but she is coping as best as she can.
I glance at the cover of a newly purchased outdoor adventure magazine and read, "Your Perfect Week In Costa Rica!" Sounds perfect to me as thumb over and see a picture of a lone kayaker surfing down a raging waterfall into a teal-colored pool framed with jungle vegetation and lava rock. Wendy and I will be celebrating our ten-year anniversary this June and have considered this place as a potential escape - we'll see what happens. Culture excites me as do new places to explore. New sounds, pictures, tastes, adventures...all simply enthrall my mind. I cannot be stuck in the moment for too long can I? The world needs more exploration, more moments of discovery and wonder for me to be remotely satisfied. So here I sit for now...sipping coffee grown in Costa Rica?
4 comments:
I should note that I wrote these so-called Starbucks Journals while leading a trip to inner-city Winnipeg with my first year college students. I wore several hats including taxi cab driver, facilitator, debriefer, etc. Occasionally I had the opportunity to kill some time and have a few sips of liquid caffeine...and my thoughts while doing that have resulted in a few posts for this lonely blog. My readers are strangely unresponsive these days - too busy to throw in your 2 cents? Or do my musings truly bore you?
I love your Starbucks musings!!! Keep them up!!!! As per your post on my website, I was actually going to post as to why I am NOT posting lately! I am taking a Cross Cultural Communications course this term. Although fascinating, it is a lot of work. One of our on-going assignments is to journal at least 5 times a week regarding our observations of culture. It is a lot - and often at the end of these journals, I am left mentally drained of ever wanting to journal or post! So yes, in T-minus 1 month, I will be back into full blog mode! But keep up your posts!!! I read each one still, even though I do not respond. Happy Starbucking!
Hey welcome back JL! I don't have too many Starbucks entries left - I guess i need to spend another week in the city. Why not post some of your observations of culture? That's essentially what I was doing while sitting at Starbucks...just an idea! I still miss Esther's blog on culture - perhaps we need to shoulder tap her again eh?
I was actually thinking of posting some of my journals...however, a lot of them are quite personal and often very opinionated regarding politics, culture and so on..which may spark debate that I am not really willing to participate in just yet. Touchy subjects..but I will try and see if I can find one of lesser controversy!
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