Deeanne Gist - www.deeannegist.com - Inspirational Romance Author

Monday, November 07, 2005

Hometown Feeling

There is a group of four retired men that park themselves at the front table of my Starbucks cafe every morning. They greet all who enter and no one can "pass go" without stopping for a chit chat. I told my husband that if we lived in the olden days, these men would be the ones that sat on the front porch of the mercantile whittling and playing checkers.

If I miss a day, they want to know where I was. If I'm early, they want to know what I'm doing there so soon. If I'm late, they want to know why I slept in. If I'm in my gym clothes, they want to know if I'm coming or going to the gym. But most of all, they want to know how I'm doing. And it takes this big ol' urban metropolis and gives it a hometown feeling.

They offer words of encouragement and I can always depend upon them for a smile. They weren't there today. And I cannot believe how disappointed I was. I will fuss at them tomorrow. How dare they go out for a game of golf (or whatever) when they knew I would be wanting a friendly "howdy" and "how the heck are ya" to start off my day. ;-)

P.S. If you haven't entered our contest, it's not too late.

posted by Deeanne at 11:44 AM

4 Comments:

Barb said...: Sounds similar to the bunch that used to come into the bakery I worked at in college. I understand that the tradition continues there, but now with "younger" guys (like our age!) Have you given them autographed copies of Bride yet???
Deeanne said...: LOL about the "younger" guys being our age!

And, I tried to slip under the radar with my group as far as *Bride* goes, but somebody must have told them and one of 'em bought a copy and read it.

They vacillate between cheering for me and teasing me. It's sweet.
Barb said...: He read it?!?! What did he say??? Wow. You should give the rest of them autographed copies for Christmas. Probably one for the guy who bought it too, to give to his honey of choice! Everybody luvs getting gifts--I'm sure they'd all be impressed! Any chance you could get a picture of them to post for us??? Your little personal gang of male cheerleaders?!
ValMarie said...: They sound cute, Dee. :-) I love to see the little communities of people that form even when you don't live in a small town.