Earlier this week I went back to my alma mater to meet with a potential job/intern connection (oh the things that incite excited speeding now a days). I decided to make the most out of the 4 hours I bought at the parking deck and met up with my good friends Jerry and Sonja for coffee and catching up.

As I sat and waited for them to arrive, I had a lot of time to look around and think. Things had changed so much since I graduated. This was the same 24-hour Starbucks I used to spend all-nighters cramming for bio exams and, eventually, editing photography projects. This was the Starbucks that I used to buy for my ex when we would study late into the night, this was the Starbucks I discovered the Peace Corps in and this was the Starbucks where I fell in love. I looked around and saw students idly chattering with coffees in their hands, macs galore littered the walls with their serpentine plugs. I thought to myself,

“Damn, if only they knew how much work they could get done on a laptop with decent internet and 8 hours of dedication, do they know how many jobs and internships they could be applying to right now? How many companies and non-profits they could be researching?”

My own mind sickened me. I tried to focus back on my coffee. My Americano, rather.I thought to myself how sad it was that I regretted buying it. I could have gotten cheaper coffee at McDonald’s or Dunkin’, hell, I could have made better coffee from home and brought it in my tumbler. Again, my mind sickened me. Through the echoes and hum drums of the coffee shop I realized how close I was to collapsing in on myself. My dress shoes, dress shirt and tie didn’t make a damn difference. The reflection in the dirty window was of a hungry animal stuck in a room full of children. Rejection and routine had begun to chip away at my self-esteem, my being. Hell, the last time I sat in this chair I basically told the girl I loved her ex still loved her and to go for it! I don’t think a homeless celibate monk could stay jobless and loveless as well as me.

Alas, Jerry and Sonja arrived before I could really dig myself in. The world needs people as bright and happy as these two, I mean it. If there was a success story to be heard it would likely be of these two’s relationship. Neuroscientist meets Photographer, could fate have chosen a more interesting intersection of intriguing arts? We talked about school and about life. We talked about Jerry’s senior art project and Sonja’s second attempt at the beast that is Genetics. Oh how they breathed life back into my day. Hum drums sound completely different when it comes from good friends.

After Sonja left for class, Jerry and I caught up on man-talk. We talked about my next plans and my next moves. We talked about my future jeep. We talked about his future photography projects. And what would boys be without their toys? I let him try out the Mark II and showed him how to use a white balance lens cap, in case he wanted to borrow her, and I took the quaint hipster pictures you see above.

Seeing my gent and lady was very very much needed. As we bid farewell over promises to go to the shooting range soon, I took one last look at the Starbucks and realized that,

“That was the Starbucks where I got my hope back.”

Trek On,

Chris