Coffee Club

Tonight, just to get out of my apartment and do some work, I went to a coffee shop that I used to frequent in high school, the Coffee Club in Broadview Heights. It's is not a trendy coffee shop. But it is a great place to sit and be comfortable, to drink coffee and read. There are little, out-of-the-way tables and nooks where you can sit for hours and never be disturbed.

Having lived in Cleveland before, I find that I'm often reminded of my past life here. Echoes of younger me still resonate in many of the places I visit. The Coffee Club is one of those places.

My most distinct memory here happened during my freshman year of college. Over Christmas break, I met up with several friends for coffee. We wanted to catch up on each other's lives since we were living states apart. 

And I had a boy to gush about. I vividly remember telling my friends all about Matt. What he looked like. Why I was falling for him. How we had gone for a walk during the first snow fall of the year-- bundled warmly, throwing snow at each other, and talking about everything we could think of. I wasn't yet sure if he liked me, but my friends insisted that he did.

And then, as freshman girls do, we became giddy and giggly. Someone stole his number out of my phone and threatened to call him. I panicked and protested, but continued to laugh. She never called him, but years later admitted that she'd never deleted his number from her phone. 

All of this came flooding back to me tonight. A memory that I probably never would have thought of again if I hadn't gone back to the place where it happened.

Cleveland is a juxtaposition of my past and present. Maybe that's why I love it so much. There are good memories here and difficult ones. But there is also the opportunity to create whatever kind of memories I want to create, this time around.