Starbucks

For those of you who knew Joel and his love for coffee, you would know how excited he would be over a new Starbucks opening here in Columbus(just a few miles from the house). They started building one a month or two after Joel went back from R and R. I immediatly thought, Joel will be so excited! That day when I spoke to him on the phone, he had asked me start sending him some tea, he wanted to stop drinking coffee! What!! My Joel, not drink coffee, unreal! So, me being a smart a** said, "so, if I told you they were building a starbucks, you wouldn't care at all and would not go for your Carmel Machiatto daily?" He said, "Your always trying to be funny, huh?" Anyways, it was a comical moment and when I drove by the building today, for the first time in a long time, I just sat at the stop light and bauled, over darn Starbucks! I know it was much more than that, but still. I used to love Carmel Machiatto's as much as Joel, but I have not been able to have one yet. Faith loves the "whop cream that papa let me lick mama". She still cannot say whipped cream, so if we go to get coffee anywhere, she will always ask me to get the drink that papa liked so she can "lick the whop cream". Good memories are here, and I know as we all grow, she will start talking more of these memories and we all will laugh, cry and enjoy these memories. For now, Starbucks is not an easy place for me to go. When in DC, I had received a Starbucks card in a care package from a very good friend, I could not use it and it is still in my purse. I guess it was so hard to walk into any of those DC Starbucks. As silly as that sounds, it was. Joel and I had a crazy Starbucks routine while we were in DC. He would pull over, downtown DC, I would hop out, run in to get the coffee, he would drive around the block, once or twice and pick me up at the corner with the coffees. It was pretty funny, and now that I think about it, that is only something him and I would do to minimize having to get the girls out of the car and haul them into the crowded shops. Thinking and writing about this brings a smile to my face right now, I know Joel would be laughing if he were here with me going over this great memory with me.