365 Days Of Love. Day 24

My junior year of college, I worked at a coffee shop outside of Minneapolis. I loved going to work every day, even if it meant waking up at 5am to make it there on time. I loved smelling like coffee, creating espresso drinks, preparing the pastry case. I even loved the smell of bleach left on my hands after washing dishes. My most favorite thing about working at the coffee shop, though, was having the opportunity to interact with so many people from so many backgrounds.

One of my customers soon became my one of my dearest friends. He would come to the coffee shop every day right as the morning began to lull a bit. His order was most often simple, black coffee with lots of room for cream. He would entertain me with stories about his childhood in Ethiopia and I would express my longing for travel and adventure. Initially, our conversations lasted only the amount of time it took me to fill his coffee cup, but one day, he said something that perpetuated our conversation…

I can’t remember exactly what is was, but it sounded something like this, “touch people, you have a beautiful spirit, connect with people.”

Our conversation changed after that. We no longer shared surface level stories, but instead, developed a friendship centered on a mutual desire to live in a balanced world. We talked about love and how it develops and how it can be cultivated in so many forms. He sought to learn from every moving thing and insisted that his barely walking daughter was a wise teacher. We read books and shared reviews, and passed them along to one another with the expectation of passing them along to yet another person when we were done. At a time in my life when so much emphasis was placed on student loans and career paths, GB help cultivate a desire for simplicity and equality within me. As the layers of worldly want began to shed, I too could see that my spirit, as are the spirits of all people, was beautiful.

This notion changed my life lens. My priority was no longer to make money or get married as soon as I graduated, but rather, I wanted to connect with people because connecting with people made my spirit beautiful. It made me happy and I believe when we are happy, the Universe is happy too, more equal. GB and I still talk today, although infrequently, each message sent is filled with love and a desire to tie with more people.

GB taught me that loving is getting to know our beautiful spirit selves.