This is a good morning. I was up early, threw on a sweater and jeans and stopped by the bank just long enough to send out the first of my daily reports. Then I dialed into a conference call as I drove to my favorite local coffee shop here in Small Town #7. They already know what I want to drink (Mayan Mocha - spicy!) when I walk in. I bonded with one of the owners, who is originally from Oklahoma. We talk Brahm's and Sonic a lot.
The call ended right after I walked in, so I wasn't delayed in enjoying my eggs and coffee. For the next 40 minutes I sipped some delicious coffee and went about putting together my weekly update on the branch. I pull various numbers from different reports, throw them onto a spreadsheet and send them to my boss. As you could probably guess, bank life isn't very exciting when I break it down...we've got reports on top of reports, that help us generate more reports that cross reference other reports. We don't have any TPS Reports yet, but if we do then I hope they let me help design the cover sheet.
To no one's surprise, I'm already off topic. What I set out to journal was how much I like mornings like this, when I get to do work from a laptop in a coffee shop. Earlier there was a couple two tables over designing the menu for a party, which eventually led to the hashing out of a giant grocery list. My grocery shopping usually includes a combo meal number, so this was a little fun to listen in on (at least for me). The coffee shop is celebrating it's third anniversary this month, so I get a free traveler's mug or t-shirt for being one of the first to order coffee and a full breakfast this morning. I'm going with the t-shirt. I have enough coffee mugs for now.
Um, again...off topic. Mornings like this. Nice to be out of the branch. Nice to have a laptop. Nice to be at a coffee shop and listening to Van Morrison on the radio. It would be nicer if there wasn't snow and ice outside the window.
It would also be great if every nice detail of today wasn't stacked on top of an inner, deeper kind of sadness. Generally speaking, it's been a good couple of weeks out here. Work has gone well, and I like the people at this branch. But I miss being able to call and talk to Tammy.
It's been 21 days.
Here's how today would have been different if it had happened 22 days ago. In a few minutes when I pack up my laptop and leave this coffee shop, I would have called Tammy and said, "It figures that two days before I leave this small town I finally see a hot girl at a coffee shop. And of course I haven't showered yet. And of course she gets her drink to go." And I would have joked that of course February 15th is the perfect day to meet a girl, because the gift buying season just ended yesterday. And then I would ask her what she was getting Stacey for his birthday, and checked in on the kids, and asked when my Girl Scout Cookies are arriving since I never can remember from the last time I asked her.
And that's how the sorrow mixes in with everything, even nice mornings over coffee with a window's view of downtown foot traffic.
If you made it this deep into the blog, congratulations. And Tammy would like it if I plugged National Organ Donor Day, which gets overshadowed since it also falls on February 14th. For more information on organ donation, please visit OrganDonor.gov. I know it's on my list of things to do when I get off work today.
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