Home again, home again

Jiggidy, jig! We used to say that all the time when I was a kid.

It is great to be home and sleep in our own bed. It feels different but also exactly the same. Everyone we see asks us what are you going to do now? Any plans yet? And while we have ideas in our heads, nothing seems to be settling. Of course, we will sub for cafes when they need a break, but that totals about two weeks out of the year.

When we were at the conference, someone brought up the fact that letting go of SAME is like a grieving process. I can see the correlation; however, no one has died. It’s not terrible at all. It’s amazing. But, it is not easy either. I read a note on Facebook this morning that inspired me. I finally know what is the most challenging for me- it’s the always. I always knew what needed to be done. I always knew who was coming in for lunch, what needed to be bought at the grocery store, who needed an extra hug each day. It’s weird not knowing. I will miss those moments. Some people have said to us it’s a chapter in your life ending. It’s doesn’t feel like a chapter. It feels like a book. It has been our everything for every waking moment for the last 11+ years. When one door closes, another opens. I think we have done a decent job closing the door but I’m still waiting for the other to open- how long does it take for the other to open? Apparently longer than 3 months!

Like I said, no one has died and this is certainly not a tragedy but I grieve none-the-less. Like we’ve said all along, this process is like sending our kid off to college. I know that SAME is in good hands and we put in some awesome groundwork for the transition. SAME is and will continue to be an amazing space for community building. I can rejoice in that and be proud but every once in a while I still find myself wondering who came in for lunch today and if I should stop at Costco for paper towels.

Texas, you are so cruel

After staying another night with the amazing Aunt Jane and Uncle Terry in La Place, we knew we needed to start our journey west. They loaded us up with water, snacks, breakfast and tons of care and concern for our safety. The weather in the south had taken a turn for the worst. Big surprise! We went from cold to dangerous. There had been news reports of our route and we knew we would hit some crazy weather. Being from the Midwest, a little snow and ice ain’t no thing. People in the South stay home, cancel school, and close roadways when this happens. Brad is an excellent driver and I knew we’d be safe but the weather did try to intimidate us. By the time we arrived in College Station, TX, we couldn’t open the car or trailer doors. Luckily, we had generous hosts who took pity on us and let us sleep in their guest room. Their cats weren’t too crazy about hosting us. Jenn and Glen took us out for an incredible meal and we stay up way too late chatting and catching up.

We had one last cafe we thought we could visit before returning to Denver. The Taste Project opened a cafe in Fort Worth. We have met the founder several times at conferences and this year, he was finally able to open. The space is beautiful and quite large. They spent lots of time and resources to design a welcoming and homey space that can make anyone feel comfortable.

We asked our friend Cameron,who lives in the Dallas area, if he could join us for lunch. He made the hour plus trip and it was worth it. The food was phenomenal! Jeff, the chef and founder, sent out a delicious off-the-menu appetizer called arrancini- fried rice balls stuffed with white cheddar cheese. Yum! Then we had to order the pimento cheese bruschetta- another amazing dish. Our lunch items were just as delish. We had no room left for dessert.

They do an interesting twist in relationship to donations. They drop a check off at your table that has no prices. There is a little leaflet in the bill jacket that explains your options. There are a few cafes who have this method of handling money and it gels with us. They took cash and credit cards. We said good-bye to Cameron and thanked him for making the time to join us and Jeff and Julie led us on a tour.

The back of house was as impressive as the front of house. We got to talk with staff and volunteers and in our quick visit got to delve in to some of the challenges of running a community cafe. We loved the diversity we saw and were in awe of the dignity that was shared.

A Place at the Table

The amount of driving we have done over the last three months is overwhelming. We have been in the car many hours and are not killing each other yet. We just passed 10,000 miles in our car for this trip and that doesn’t include the over 2,000 miles we drove over the holidays to be with family in other people’s cars!!!

This last stretch of driving was to Raleigh, NC so that we could be at the opening of A Place at the Table, the newest community cafe. Our friends from F.A.R.M. Café were able to make the drive over and join us in celebrating the amazing work of Maggie and her crew. Their space is amazing and they are excited for their first couple of days being open.

We were able to hang out with good friends from the Rolla days, Byron and Kate and their kids. They live in Apex, just outside Raleigh. The last time we were able to see them was years ago. It was great fun to catch up and get to know their not so little ones. We were able to plug in our camper- thankfully! The temperatures were ridiculous. It’s the South people and it was eleven degrees. Yes-11! But our little camper heater kept us toasty warm.

The next stop on our adventure was Augusta, GA. We are curious about many of these cities in the South. Not having traveled much in this neck of the woods, we’ve wanted to tour as many areas as possible. As challenging as that can be towing a camper, it’s totally worth it. After sleeping in another friendly Wal-Mart parking lot, we found an established older downtown that seems to be undergoing some renovation. We spent some time on the river walk and tried to check out the site of the Masters, the very famous golf tournament held in April every year. That place is guarded like a fortress and it’s right in the middle of the city! You’d never know it was there! The only marking was this tiny sign we saw on one of the gates as we drove by.

Atlanta was our next stop. We were in town the same night as the National Championships and the president happened to be there too. With Rosie’s help- Libby’s cousin who used to live here – we hit Piedmont Park and dog park, even though it was raining! We also added a brewery to our list Orpheus Brewery.

Selma, Alabama was our next stop where we explored the National Park and historic sites there. We walked through the city and read all about the civil rights Movement.

Montgomery was our resting place for the night. This city was also filled with history. We had the privilege of visiting the Rosa Parks Museum.

This area of the world is so different than we anticipated. It is much more forested than we thought it would be. As the miles fly by on our speedometer, we are more and more in awe of the natural surroundings. Mobile, Alabama was another stop for us. On our way to New Orleans, we stopped and explored the Mississippi sand hill crane refuge where they are working to save a dying population of cranes. There are 130 birds trying to survive in this changing natural environment. The rangers there are working on repairing the ecosystem to help them survive.

On Thursday night, we stayed at Aunt Jane and Uncle Terry’s house in La Place, LA. They were so awesome and let us do laundry and leave the trailer parked in their driveway so we didn’t have to take it in to the city.

Bright and early Friday morning we headed into NOLA for the One World Everybody Eats conference. Every year open cafes and cafes in the process of opening come together to share best practices and support each other. These days are always full. It was strange to be here this year and not have to worry about leaving the cafe or getting back to it. The sessions and presentations we participated in were to support the programming. There were about 12 new cafes who came to the pre-conference presentation that we sat in on. We also shared about our trip around the country and all the cafes we have visited. This was a very emotional weekend for us as it capped off our cafe transition. We shared a lot of joy and tears in the sessions and in our one-on-one time together with other cafe operators. Part of the fun of this weekend is getting to bond with each other.

On Sunday night at the banquet, we were honored to receive recognition and a plaque for our years of involvement with OWEE. This was a beautiful moment in the weekend for us. We were able to share a children’s book with the group. Lisa Davis, Libby’s good friend from her teaching days, gave her that book. It really sums up what this community cafe movement is all about.

Brad 2.0 was here as well which was great to see him again. Although we have been talking to him every month, it was meaningful to connect. We were excited to share with the group about our idea to offer respite to cafe operators. We have already had two cafes ask us to schedule a time when we can come and help them out so they can go on vacation.

We were excited to get to hang out with Matthew & Sarah Fleming. Sarah was one of our first employees at SAME. It was powerful to reconnect with her and it was wonderful to be around someone who understood what we were experiencing during the day. Sarah had been an intern with us, then the volunteer coordinator, and was able to attend at least one of these conferences in the past so we could decompress with her after the long days.

We had plenty of time for fun while we were there, too! Lots of good food, great beer, and fun times with friends. The fried bologna sandwich and the collard green melt from Turkey and the Wolf were total game changers for us! We had to have a po’boy and a muffalata – among lots of other really good for you items.

It’s weird to think that we are heading towards Denver and this amazing trip is coming to a close. It doesn’t seem real. The growth and expansion of our hearts on this trip has been overwhelming.

Happy New Year!

2017 was an amazing year of change and adventure for us. We started celebrating last year’s holidays with family after an amazing trip to Costa Rica. January 2017 was a busy month of travel with attending the One World Everybody Eats summit in Philly. Our good friends, the Powell family joined us for some fun there. We also started some minor renovations on our home. Our friend Emory Hambrick also came into the world!

In February of 2017, we celebrated 19 year’s of marriage. We sad goodbye to the Hambricks as they moved to Knoxville.

Later in the year, we congratulated our niece Megan on her college graduation and took our friend Angelo to a Rockies game. Angelo has volunteered on Tuesday mornings for years setting up the SAME Cafe dining room. We also had Mary and Emory stay with us for a couple of weeks when they returned to Denver for a visit.

Because we had started the process of finding and training our successors at SAME Cafe, Brad was able to help with the Tiny Home Village in Denver. It is one of the first tiny home villages in Colorado that provides housing for those who struggle in the city to afford the rising cost of living. We were also able to enjoy some camping in Colorado that we hadn’t had time to do before.

Aly and Libby’s dad stopped by on their cross country adventure and we got to go to a Rockies game downtown. If you’ve been following the blog, this is the game where we met fellow Lambda Chi member Charlie and didn’t even know we had that connection.

We had lots of summer concert fun with friends and both sets of parents came for another visit. Libby was able to attend Colleen and Nolan’s wedding and we celebrated 20 year’s of friendship with our Lambda Chi group in Florida. Brad hiked his first 14’er and we were in IL for a cousin’s wedding over Labor Day.

During all this time, we were working hard at SAME to ensure that the board, Brad 2.0, and Tish were set up for a successful transition. This was, at times, stressful (just because of the magnitude of what we were trying to accomplish) but it was so worth it. We were able to attend (with Brad 2.0) a week long program with Uncharted- formally the Unreasonable Institute which filled our transition process with expertise and support that ultimately polished an already valuable experience of transition.

in October of 2017, we were honored with the open house at the cafe and were absolutely blown away by the Governor’s proclamation. That day was amazing and will be one of our favorite memories forever. It was a day filled with love and joy and hope. We know there was a ton of work that went into making that celebration, even Libby’s mom was able to come out. It meant so much to us. Still when we think back on this, we cannot believe that this day happened or even this trip for that matter.

This brings us to the beginning of our blog! Our 2017 was a tornado of crasome!

We still have more cafes to visit and we are excited for the One World Everybody Eats summit in New Orleans this month. 2017 was overwhelming and amazing and we are so grateful for every single moment of it. 2018 is already shaping up to be crasome, too!