diners

Since about September, my Dad and I have been meeting every Monday to hop in his car and drive far enough away to get lost in an unfamiliar town, at which point we will hunt down a completely random diner to eat at and evaluate in my little sketch/journal. We started our little diner-review days when my twin sister moved away and I was left all alone with a disoriented heart, an empty room, and a home-town I was working hard not to resent for its lack of coffee shops and its lack of an airport. It seems travel is my coping mechanism for loneliness but a couple commitments made that look impossible.
So my folks got tired of worrying about my sleep-less, meal-less, dodgey-eyed and pathetic lifestyle, so they stepped in with compromises I've come to love.
Mom and I traveled from coffee shop to coffee shop every Friday and Dad and I went on our diner hunts each Monday.
These little weekly adventures could make a blog of their own one day. (dream big...i know.)

All this is simply to say that I found myself in a random diner in a random town on Monday morning and for the first time in quite awhile I noticed a few head-turns. I cherish these turning heads like trophies. I am, after-all, a reaction-motivated punk of a kid most of the time, despite the adult life I try to look like I'm leading.

As a matter of fact, an entirely different set of events that can most easily be summed up, though not entirely accurately, as "car trouble" landed me in Massillon in the middle of a snow storm last Thursday. I had about a buck 75 and the only places still open included a pawn shop, a bar, and a little Italian Restaurant. I figured a buck 75 couldn't get me anything in a pawn shop, and couldn't get me anything good in a bar, so I tried my luck at the Italian restaurant. I popped in, still wearing my scrubs from work and hoped I looked helpless and pathetic enough to earn me loitering privileges.
"Can I wait for a ride in here? I don't have any money but..."
before I could finish my sentence a young man named Smiley told me to have a seat and "would I like a cup of coffee or hot chocolate, on the house?"
I love meeting strangers like this. I wish I had money to shower on people who make my day in such simple and satisfying ways. But as I said...a buck 75...
I accepted SMiley's kind offer and commenced in a delightful bout of eavesdropping.
"A guy came in here the other day with dread locks that went all the way down to the floor!" I heard Smiley say to a couple sitting just in front of me.

a kid like me loves to know she's started some chatter

I would like to give some major props to Smiley who started his own chatter simply by giving me some free coffee and good conversation.

props Smiley

props parents