Roasted Pleasures

I love Saturday mornings. Even more, I love anticipating them, that's why I'm writing about Saturday morning on Friday morning.

Let me tell you why I love them.

When Pete and I first moved into our townhouse three years ago, we found this little coffee shop tucked away between an X-Ray joint and an animal clinic, "All Paws." We started going every Saturday morning and quickly became weekend regulars. What happens when you're a weekend regular (and just happen to be a guy that everyone loves, i.e. Pete) is that you start receiving unsolicited perks, for example: a pound of coffee beans when you only ask for a 1/2 pound; free refills before you realize you need one; strangers who quickly become friends; and strangers who remain strangers but in a friendly kind of way.

The morning went something like this:

I'd get up and go running before the sun was up and be home and showered as it came up. Pete would get dressed and we'd hop in the car, on our way for a fresh cup of coffee. There was always one other guy there, Joe, who we'd say hello to--and, who it turns out, attended University of Scranton (where Pete went) forty years earlier. Pete and I would spend some time just catching up on our week, talk about what we hoped to accomplish over the weekend, maybe the month, the year, five years, ten years.

When I became pregnant with Ava, Mr. Kahn (aka The Coffee Guy and owner) took extra special care of me. He had my favorite coffee available in decaf, he carried my coffee and my muffin to the table (even though I had just finished a short run and maybe even a weight lifting class) and he made us promise that we'd keep coming well after the baby was born.

After I had Ava, we loaded her up, four days old, and headed to the coffee shop (Ava calls it Shebop)--and we've been back every weekend since. The routine goes pretty much the same as it did before we had Ava, we've just added diapers, bibs, and books to the process. Her first (and very small) first birthday party was well attended by Shebop friends. Last weekend, she had nearly everyone in the place (including Joe) linked in a go of "ring around the rosy."

Mr. Kahn will tell you that people come every Saturday morning just to see Ava--and I can certainly see why that would be true. But I suspect they also come every Saturday morning because, like me, they've been looking forward to it ever since Friday morning.

Today's Splurge:

1. Find something that you look forward to and do it every week and look forward to it every day!

Want to share it with others (anonymously or not?)--leave a post or email me at: splashesandsplurges@gmail.com