Stay dry and smell the coffee

With all the wisdom around, when do you know it is your time, or the perfect time? Looking at the average things people like in general we are as different as we can from each other so when it is my time, could his time have passed?

Things happen and I am a firm believer that it isn’t always for a reason, karma or any other mystical way. Things can just happen, to me to you or both at the same time.

There was me sitting in my favorite coffee place having a good cup of something hot and sheltering from the rain, that hasn’t stopped all day. The place was almost packed and filled with a happy atmosphere despite the weather. Couples, friends and people of all ages and background.

From time to time it is a great place to sit and just feed on the scene, like this time it’s a great inspirational spot for adding something to my blog.

As I was sitting alone I could focus on the things at hand, as I still needed to get some things from my list, the weekly shopping. While I was checking in on Facebook I noticed a shadow next to me, just thinking someone would like to pass to a table near me, when suddenly this nice voice asked me whether or not the seat next to me was available. Being polite I looked up and answered sure, and found myself looking into the (very) blue eyes of a thirty something, soaked and dripping from the rain, he needed a dry spot and his tea. (Well deserved) he sat down and I went back to my iPhone to check mail and other stuff, while sipping from my coffee.  Like conversations go he started to talk about the weather and I put my phone down, as I am still raised in the correct way. So we had the polite conversation about the weather and I must admit he had a voice that lingers in your ear, manly and in the lower tone range. My coffee almost finished but the rain still not giving way I just made the decision to have my coffee last a little longer, this was no time to go around and carry a couple of bags from the market. Plus I had plenty of time on my day off. When out of the blue my table guest offered me a coffee as according to him; “no one should be around there”. So I gladly took him up on the offer and we started to chat a little more, where I came from as I was for sure not speaking the local dialect and if I had a day off from work. He turned out to be a geography teacher enjoying the little spring break, apart from the weather that is. In the end we spend 3 hours chatting and finished when the rain seem to stop. A handshake and a bye and we parted. Walking towards the market with a smile as I just had a great time with just someone and no strings attached, no expectations none what so ever. We had a nice talk over coffee and tea and about so many daily things. It was nice these few moments with a stranger. So it is still possible to engage in small talk with people just sharing a table.

Lately I have been spending much time out and about alone, and yes sometimes I do miss someone to talk too during my walks but on the other side I have been on my own for so many years while I was stationed abroad. Being with just me has become a way of life, and not a bad one I must admit. Being solo a lot has perhaps changed my ways when I was with someone, being in the relationship ir being at the “other” home, the one I had to share with my significant other. We all have to adapt when we are going into something more serious, but now I have to be honest, I always had my escape place, the one where I lived away from all things “back home”.

Over the years people like this guy have come and gone in my life and I was happy with it, seems I like it that way. My friends are different, I keep nurturing my friendships they are the family I picked the people I want in my life. After my nice coffee chat I realized that the relationships I had were not as strong as my friendships, and I started wondering why, because I do not share a house with my friends? They come and visit, enjoy a dinner and stuff, but partners are there all the day, and they want to know, why and where and what I am doing. Yes love is a great thing, and I do enjoy it when it comes along, miss it when it has been a while. But I had to admit after all these years that I might not always gave them all I was and could be. Whether it was that they never had a change to intervene with my job or the goals I set along my career, I wanted what I wanted when I wanted it. I gave what I wanted to give at maximum when I was in love and together, but I now know I never gave my all. So tomorrow when I look in the mirror I am looking at a different person. It took only a rain shower and coffee with a stranger after all these years to find a little more about myself.