Coffee Date | Summer 2018
If you and I had coffee...
I'd meet you at an outdoor cafe in town. We'd snatch a table on the corner of the big patio under the ivy-covered trellis, and we'd both agree to the daily special when the server suggested the customer favorite to us. We'd enjoy the warmth of the sunshine, but smell the rain in the air and would cross our fingers that the poor weather would hold off until later in the day. Gotta love those pop-up June thunderstorms.
If you and I had coffee...
I'd ask you what your favorite piece in your wardrobe was this season. I'd tell you that I've been looking for some casual shorts that I could wear around the house for about two years now and I finally found these. They are french terry and are super comfortable. I sleep in them. I clean in them. I go to the pool in them. I run errands in them. They are seriously the best addition to my summer capsule. I'm ordering a few more in other colors because I see myself living in them this season.
If you and I had coffee...
I'd ask you if you've read any good books lately. I'd tell you that I just finished one that paralleled some of the things I'd experienced in the last few years of my marriage and through my divorce, and even though most people might find it depressing to read, it really helped me come to terms with some of the pain I've endured. I remember watching a psychologist give a talk once about how we can trigger our brains to induce healing after experiencing trauma or painful events when we give a name to the emotions we are feeling, rather than just trudging through them. I probably thought this was a kooky idea until I read this book and had to sit down with all the emotions that arose from these pages. There is truth in the theory of naming our feelings.
If you and I had coffee...
I'd mention - since we were on the topic of books - that I've started to annotate my thoughts while reading books this summer. I'm a fast reader and tend to whip through a lot of books every year, but I have a difficult time remembering a lot of details a month or two down the road. I have a note file in my phone that is dedicated to any thoughts that come up while I'm working through a book. I just quickly jot down anything and everything I think of and it makes it much easier to write my reviews at the end of the month. I know many people who annotate right inside the books, writing in the margins, and highlighting passages that stand out to them. While I have a few that I'm comfortable doing that with, there are a lot of books I would never deface. I'd ask, how do you feel about writing in books?
If you and I had coffee...
I'd tell you that it has been raining here for nearly two months straight. I think we've had a handful of partly sunny days since the beginning of spring and we're at such a risk of flash flooding, it's scary. I drove over both the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers this weekend and they are still at crest-level with more warnings for the entire area to get several more inches of rain this week. I'd tell you that I'm starting to consider the idea of building an ark or at least buying a boat.
If you and I had coffee...
I'd tell you that I'm reviewing the goals I set for 2018 and also thinking about how my one little word has faired in the first part of the year. I chose "hustle" as my word for 2018, and while I still love the idea and have done a lot of hustling when it comes to meeting some of the big goals I had made, I'm also feeling the need to slow down and savor the little moments more. My little heart has been going through a tug of war trying to balance these desires and I'm thinking about trying a different approach to my hustle in the second half of the year. Did you choose a word for the year? What kind of progress have you done in pursuit of your word or goals you set for 2018?
If you and I had coffee...
We'd hear the pitter-patter of raindrops falling on the trellis above us and know it was time to wrap up. After finishing the last sip of our drinks, I'd quickly give you a hug and promise to see you again soon before dashing from the quickly approaching storm.
