As much as I gripe about how badly we're all behaving and don't get me wrong, some of us are (looking at YOU and YOU and YOU), even amid the grossness there are pockets of joy and caring.
I noticed today that the coffee shop owner had been closed for 2 weekends in a row. This is the person who told me how to get signed up for a vaccine, who taught herself to roast coffee beans and bake Vollkorn bread to sell and slips me extra treats with my Americano and always makes me laugh. So I texted, just to be sure all was OK.
Turns out the vaccine dose #2 kicked her and her helper's butts. They were down and out but hoping to be back soon, she said, adding, take care of yourself and we'll all get through this!
So I walked to another cafe, 2 blocks away. At this shop, an older man, in dirty pants and limping slowly, was making his way inside, hand trembling, for a refill. Mike has hung around this shop for as long as I can remember so I gave him some room. The barista got him in and out, kindly but briskly. I thought back to a rainy day last winter when he wanted a refill and the shop was busy and at least three of us standing outside in line offered to buy him coffee. When I got inside, the owner, bemused, said it was all taken care of. Mike lives in transitional housing and is fully vaccinated so while it's not the life I would want for myself, he's in as good a shape as he can be.
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