Something about a Coffee Shop

​A Great Escape 
Cof.fee shop: a café serving coffee and light refreshments
 
A peaceful place, a great escape, where it is no longer you inside of a large world of mass chaos but instead you and a cup.
 
I have always found peace in coffee shops. I had my first sip of coffee at age 8 thanks to my grandmother and ever since I found a love for it.
 
My family never understood this great escape of mine, and some of you may not understand either. However, I know there are many of you who will understand the great escape I am talking about.
 
Here is a list of my top reasons why I love coffee shops…. And I am not talking about your local Starbucks.

• Coffee
• Art
• People
• Jesus’s Love
• Memories
• The windows
• Ideas and dreams
• Lives and Love
• Peace

 
COFFEE
You can’t have a coffee shop without coffee. Coffee isn’t just a drink. Coffee brings people together. It brings joy and life to so many. If you are anything like me, your day doesn’t start until you have had your coffee. Without it my smile is just not the same. It’s warm and delightful. My go to is a large vanilla latte. My favorite part is the foam at the top. Every time I buy my incredibly expensive cup of joe, I am not just paying for a cup of coffee but instead paying for a great experience, a cup of coffee that could change my life, not the coffee changing my life but someone or something in the coffee shop that could change my life that day.
 
ART
Have you ever walked into a coffee shop and not seen art everywhere? There is art on the walls, on the floor, the tables, and even art in your latte. Each drink is different that’s art if you ask me, and each person who walks into that coffee shop looks different, smells different, lives differently and each have their own unique personal story. Art is made in coffee shops, sold in coffee shops, art is everywhere.
 
 
PEOPLE
My second favorite thing about coffee shops. The people… so many people walk in and out of those doors every day. Each person with a different reason to visit and each person with a different order meaningful to themselves. There are people of all ages at a coffee shop. I love watching the old couples talk and share a cup of coffee while the husband so kindly helps put on his wife’s jacket as they are ready to leave. There are business men and women who come for meetings and to discuss important topics that could make or break a deal. There are children playing in the corner with the toys as their parents have a relaxing break. Couples on their first date and couples on their 100th date who just enjoy a day with a cup of coffee and their significant other sitting across from them. There are long lost friends who haven’t seen each other in ages and want to catch up, and what better way to catch up than at a coffee shop! College students writing their next essay, high school students preparing for their next steps, bloggers, and then there is people like me alone at a table taking in the environment and loving every second and last sip. There are so many different stories around you in a coffee shop and most of them you will never know, but they are there right around you waiting to be told. You never know who you might see or what you might run across in a coffee shop but what I do know is that there are so many amazing people who visit.
 
Jesus’s Love
My favorite. I know this might not be true for every coffee shop but it is true for the coffee shop I visit. God’s love is everywhere. On Sunday’s families visit after church and discuss the sermon that day over a cup. On any day, you will find at least one or two individuals with a cup of coffee in one hand and their Bible in front of them, digging deeper into the word of God. Couples that are praying together and instead of being on their phone reading God’s word together. God’s love and presence is all over; remember to be aware of his presence.
 
MEMORIES
Memories are made in coffee shops. Memories with friends, maybe just yourself, your significant other, and your family. It might be the memory of your first time visiting your favorite coffee shop, or the first time trying it. A memory shared with a friend or even reminiscing over memories with each other.
 
WINDOWS
Next time you drive past a coffee shop at night look into the windows. The windows each representing a different story. People sitting at tables, chatting. The windows each represent something different. Different lives, a different story to be told. It could be an older couple reminiscing through their lives. A brand-new couple ready to embark on a journey together. Or a girl who needs a little extra love and is finding it difficult to find herself. When you look through the windows imagine a story waiting to be told and it will change your outlook.
 
 
 
IDEAS AND DREAMS
In a coffee shop, there are so many ideas and dreams being tossed around. Business ideas, inventions, and new thoughts into different brains. Whenever I sit in a coffee shop as I am right now ideas always are flowing through my mind. New blog posts I can write about, how I can change the lives around me, what I can do to be the best version of myself and how I can make a difference in this world. Dreams Ideas are everywhere in coffee shops and dreams are being made. I think a coffee shop is somewhere where people can express who they are and not be judged, a peaceful place to relax and enjoy time to yourself.

PEACE
I find so much peace in a coffee shop. Just me and my cup of coffee. Sometimes I see people I know or even people I don’t and I find a reason to smile because it creates a conversation. There is something about the quietness of a coffee shop but also the voices around you that I find peaceful. The smell of fresh ground coffee that fills the air and the presence is very peaceful to me.
 
Your great escape from the world can be anywhere you want it to be.
 
For me…. My great escape is a coffee shop.
 

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Love, 
Sarah Stump
​#IMPERFECTLYPERFECT