Saturday, December 31, 2011

Happy New Year !


Well, it’s one day away from a brand new year! It has been a wonderful year for The Shop Downtown and I want to thank each and every one of my customers, who I now call friends, for making it exciting, successful, wonderful and fun.
My wish for your new year is growth and prosperity. May each of you take all the things good and perhaps lessons learned, multiply and apply them to 2012. May you also be able to look at mistakes, regrets and misfortunes, with an honest evaluation and not repeat any mishaps made in 2011.
I look forward to seeing you all next week. I enjoyed my much needed brake, but miss everyone terribly.
Now, let’s all put a shout out to Michelle, who was amazing filling in for me last week. I am so thankful for her and appreciate the hard work. Michelle, may 2012 bring you extreme happiness and blessings!!
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

The Gentle Giant and The sweetest thing!


       He could be the poster child for the phrase, gentle giant. He stands about 6 feet 4 inches high and weighs well over 300 pounds. He is 74 years old exactly. I know his exact age because I simply asked his age one day and he simply told me, “I’m 74 years old.”
       This is my favorite customer in Schulenburg, Texas. He comes into the shop almost every day. He gets a small cup of black coffee with no lid and a slice of homemade banana bread, or anything that may be offered to him if there is not any banana bread that day. However, banana bread is his absolute favorite and it is always baked with him in mind. He sincerely wants to eat the banana bread each day, but the other things he accepts when the bread is void, may be out of pure politeness. He is one of the nicest and kindness men I have ever met.   His presence and company are always welcome in the Shop Downtown.
       The first time he came in was around Christmas time last year. The shop had just opened and business was all very new. He ordered a small black coffee, which was $1.50 total. I gave him his total with a smile, expecting to perhaps make change for $2.00 or have him say keep the change, which was one thing I had already grown accustomed to in my little shop, tips. Yet, this was not at all what transpired.
       The gentle giant  handed me a twenty dollar bill and quickly, in his extremely large deep voice, said, “Keep the change.”  I was shocked. I quickly pushed the bill back towards him, knowing I could not accept such a generosity. He was persistent, determined and intent on blessing me and I knew this. So, I retracted, smiled, thanking him sincerely as he smiled warmly back and said, “Merry Christmas”.
       This stranger was my Santa Claus that chilly December morning. His generosity and love warmed my heart along with the atmosphere in The Shop Downtown.
       This was just the beginning of his kindness and blessings tossed around each and every time he enters the door and sits upon my stool at the counter. He is truly an amazing man and everyone that meets him has said on one occasion or another, “He is such a great guy.”
       Yes, he is such a great guy and has become day after day an important asset to the Shop each morning somewhere between 10:00 or 10:30, when his presence graces the door of The Shop Downtown.
       His favorite thing to do is to offer to buy whatever may be being eaten or drank by whoever may be sitting across from him that morning. It could be just one customer from down the street drinking their usual small black coffee or an entire table of women eating, drinking, talking and enjoying their visit. It does not matter when, where or who, he just likes too bless people.
       My other favorite, who I will refer to as, The Sweetest Thing,  is one of my regular customers that would easily fall into the category of the Gentle Giant's favorite people to bless.
                         The Sweetest Thing
       The Sweetest Thing,  would stand about 5 feet tall if she stood straight, but she hunches over severely and this makes her about 4”10 on a good day. I don’t know her age and have never been comfortable enough to ask, not to mention she is extremely hard of hearing, so I always try to keep my questions to the bare minimum, for example; “ Would you like your usual roll and coffee?”
       She always answers, “hmmmh”, which means yes, and I serve her a cinnamon roll and a small black coffee with half coffee and half water in the cup.
       The Sweetest Thing walks to the coffee shop when she comes, which is usually a couple of times a week. She walks everywhere she travels. I don’t think it is because she cannot drive as much as it is that she does not have a vehicle to drive.
       The Sweetest Thing was born and raised in Schulenburg. I asked her once how high school was when she went here and she told me that she never went to high school. She was a poor country girl and had to drop out of school in the fourth grade to help her family work the farm.
       This was common for small town life when She was growing up. People had to do what they had to do to survive, including using their young children for labor.
       She is still hard working even in her golden years. I hate to guess for fear that I might be wrong, but I assume, safely or not, that she is in her late 70’s or early 80’s. She cleans for a living. I guess it is homes that she cleans, or perhaps offices, but I’m not really sure. I do know, you might see her walking around town on any given day, on her usual route, which is to her job, wherever she may be cleaning that day, the local bar or the shop downtown if it is early enough for coffee and too early for beer.
       She rarely smiles and you would most likely see her small hunched over frame with a serious scowl on her face than any other expression. Except for when The Gentle Giant is in The Shop and offers to buy her cinnamon roll and coffee. This always makes her light up and smile. It’s a delight to see someone illuminated, which has spent most of her days shadowed, over the wonderful kindness of a gentle giant.