I’m doing one of my favorite things right now. It’s early morning, I’m sitting at a table on a sunny San Francisco sidewalk and I’m sipping from a vast and seemingly bottomless bowl of coffee. The laptop is open, but I don’t think I’ll work just yet. San Francisco is waking up. Someone just jogged by on their morning run and the local merchants are shaking out their doormats, getting ready for another day.
The thing about drinking coffee from a bowl, is that it is a true commitment. It takes two hands! You can’t take a sip distractedly while you type another email, or check your voicemail. You can’t balance it in one hand while you run to catch the muni. You have to consciously set those thoughts aside, place your palms on the sides of the bowl and lift it to your lips. It takes time, and a willingness to put off your work day and enjoy, for just a few minutes, the feeling of waking up. You Americans….always in a hurry to go here or get there. Work, work, work. If you can’t give it up, you can take your coffee to go in one of those paper numbers with the little sleeves and the lid, head to work with your ipod on and check your messages on the blackberry all at once. As for me? I am closing the laptop and having a pain au chocolat. Today, I claim my independence.
