When I lived in the Quad Cities, I had all kinds of places I could go and be greeted and welcomed. When I walked into Village Inn, Pam or Karen or Christina or Steven or Toni or (back in the day) Dan would call me by name and bring me Diet Coke and be genuinely happy to see me. I could pop into Saint Giuseppes Pizza and Bobby Schilling would greet me and visit with me. One time when he was walking in a parade he saw me on the side and ran over and hugged me and said I havent seen you in a while! Back when Braxton Hamilton owned the Coffee Hound, I could order a drink with too much espresso and caramel, sink into the leather chairs, and visit with Braxton or Grace or whomever was working that day. When I lived in the Metamora area, I had that same thing at the library, where all the workers knew me by name, talked with me about books, ordered anything I suggested. At Aztekita I could hang out and study and visit with Jorge and Martin and practice my Spanish with the kitchen staff. The lady at Geos Pizza knew our family and Ive had hours of girl-talk with the woman who owned the coffee shop. I miss those places. Ive lived here for a year and a half and maybe this is just a different place. Maybe its the proximity to Chicago, or maybe its the temporal nature of a college town, but I havent found those places here yet. Except for Tommy Os Family Restaurant. At Tommy Os I can walk in and Camille calls me by name and brings me Diet Coke and her husband starts cooking my spinach and feta omellete. When I feel like visiting, she chats and we talk about our families or the nature of business or good employees vs. bad employees. When I feel like being to myself, she senses that and lets me sit and read or surf the internet. When I forgot my card one time she said Oh dont worry, you can just pay next time. Tommy Os has been my place, and I have been grateful. Today I am immeasurably sad. I waited until almost closing on this, their last day of business, to swing by with a card Id written. The door was already locked but Camille opened it and invited me in. I shook my head and tried to talk without tears but that didnt happen. I declined the invite in and said I just wanted to come by and give you this. Im going to miss you. She cried and I cried and she asked me to please come in and have coffee but I couldnt because I just would have sat there and cried. To a lot of people, this may have been a restaurant. To me, it was a friend, and I will miss them.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Sep 2014 18:50:20 +0000
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