Uncommon Grounds

Well, it won’t be long now before I’m en route to an entirely new life and lifestyle. Its strange, because the life I’m leaving hasn’t been bad to me. In fact, its been wonderful.

I have a great job. I work in a coffee shop called Uncommon Grounds. It’s a comfortable little place right next to the State University at Albany. We do plenty of business, and almost everyone who comes in comes back, most of them every day, some of them multiple times a day. I’m a small part of hundreds of people daily life, and they mine. Many of them keep it simple and comfortable, some like to get into it a little deeper. Sometimes I’m just a bartender with an easy ear, other times I’m a philosopher with the right one-sentence thought to reset somebody’s switches. Sometimes I’m the bright light which illuminates a cozy patch in someone’s otherwise cold and gloomy day. Every now and then, I’m the crazy mother”f”er who’ll eat anything. Other times I’m the quick quip and laugh that is the continuing reminder of how funny life is. Occasionally, I’m the scapegoat someone needs when they feel like destroying something. Sometimes I’m the counselor, sometimes, the fearless leader. Often, I’ve been the shoulder to cry on. Sometimes I’m the boyfriend, when there can’t or won’t be another. Other times, I’m the brother, to one of the guys who doesn’t know where else to turn. Sometimes, I need to be the son, or grandson. Always, I need to be the friend.

To all of them, I’m the constant. When things happen to them, I wait at the Grounds for them to show me what the world has offered them.

I love all my people, and everyone of them are worthy of my life. They do more for me than I for them. They’ve given me a home the likes of which I may never see again.

I hope you understand that I have to go... because of the love and gratitude I have for you... I’ve lost track of who I really am. I’m ready to taste the world, even if it’s bitter.