Odd Times

The past few weeks have been strange with their highs and lows. I think my life might be trying to mimic indiana's weather patterns.
There's the chance that I might not be working at the MTCup much longer, which is a strange fact for me to wrap my head around. Those espresso stained walls have been my sanctuary and my hell for the past two years. I didn't have any scars until I started working there. Now I have at least eight on my right arm.
I'm over my mountains of molehills stage. It's not as if I wanted to work there for the rest of my life. It's the sense of community that I've gained over the past two years there that is at stake. I grew up in transitions. I've attended well over a dozen different schools and lived in nine different states. Stability and permanence had been nothing more than notions to me.
Working there changed that. I began to interact with members of the community from all walks of life on a daily basis. My co-workers became my family. I began to feel at home.
When I was sick and hospitalized at Ball Memorial, one of the regulars rushed me up through the ER waiting list, and sat by my bedside while my IV's dripped, to make sure that I would be okay. When a spanish professor noticed I was having a hard time last year, he repeatedly quoted "This too shall pass." Advice that has stuck with me, and I pass on. If it weren't for my friend Kennon, who gets a grande coffee almost every day before he goes to work or kung-fu, I wouldn't be going to LA to record my album in the fall.
Those are just three people. They've all made significant impacts on me.
That job has taught me how to put love and hard labor into your work and watch the pay-off. Being a barista isn't easy. One gallon of milk weighs 8.25 lbs. We carry five at a time. My hands have callouses on them from the tampers and the groupheads. I know more about frothing milk than I ever could have imagined. But the callouses, scars, and heavy lifting are part of a reward. I know how a good latte can make someone's day. I wouldn't work minimum wage for two years just anywhere. What has kept me there for so long are the people, and the satisfaction of knowing that I've made a difference in their days when I go home exhausted.
If it's time for me to move on in life, then I will make my peace with that. I'm not going to be petty or sacrifice any of my dignity, because I believe that the MTCup and I have given and taken equally from one another. I have nothing to be bitter about. If I do leave, I will do so with grace and respect for the community that has given me so much. Hopefully I can do something with everything that I have learned there.
"This too shall pass."