As I sit on a train headed home from Savannah, my first home
town, for the last few days I have a feeling of destiny, connections, and
wonderment. (All non-Starbucks pics are of Savannah, so pretty in the spring!)
I realized this week, as much as my roots are in Savannah,
my home town is Fort Lauderdale. This
came to me among two Starbucks, maybe four actually.
The first two are in Savannah, one is near my folks, near
the synagogue I grew up. They all serve
the same coffee, maybe one is a little hotter than another but basically the
offerings are the same.
At the one near my folks, I met a friend from college Judy
Hirsh. We were at UGA together and she
was a sweetheart for AEPi while dating her future husband from TEP. I still am amazed at how well she navigated
that world between two rivals. It was
great to catch up and hear the wonderment of her children, her efforts for
Susan Komen and the Rambam Day School, and a good feeling inside to see that
yes our generation has produced some fine children and great efforts to help
mankind.
I had the pleasure of getting there a little early and was
there another morning as well and was able to watch the locals coming in and
out on a weekday and Saturday morning.
As they brought their kids in, as they walked in and out of their day, I
realized as much as I enjoy being in that Savannah I really don't fit. To be honest, there is a feeling of southern
gentility, there are the families, the kids, the young girls who are waiting on
their latte' and sandwich while their friends are calling to find out where
they are. There are the urgency or lack
thereof an easy day but feeling like I could sit there every morning for a
month and not necessarily fit in any more than I did at that moment. Their lives are wonderful but the commonality
with my own not so much.
The other Starbucks in Savannah is downtown on Broughton
Street. A little more diverse of a crowd
between the locals downtown, the art students from Savannah College of Art and
Design (SCAD), and the tourists. You
walk up to the Starbucks on Broughton Street and you feel a little different
vibe from the one the day before. The
design is a little older fashioned. A
little more charming, and frankly a little more of an old fashioned coffee shop
than the one the shopping center near my folks.
It is nestled in this unique, for its time, planned
community that started in 1733, you see a different Savannah emerge at least I
Think so any way. There is Forsythe Park
surrounded by stately homes of what a capitol city would have looked like
before Atlanta became the capitol of Georgia.
There are the squares with each one having their own unique personality,
as they were meant to each have a community feel and a unique purpose for the
new colony. There are the trees with
Spanish Moss hanging from their branches and you can imagine them looking
similar over a few hundred years ago. In
Forsythe Park, there are the students playing Frisbee, the farmers market of
local produce and some unique foods, and a bunch of kids possibly doing Zumba
in the park making you see this lively town among all of the blooms of spring
and the unique houses of years back.
This is a little more vibrant and as you head up the squares toward the
river you feel this influence of the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD)
and how nice it is to have this younger influence downtown as compared to when
I was growing up. As a gay male, this
seems more like the place I would fit in.
A little more artsy, a blend of locals, tourists, and students enjoying
the lovely life of downtown Savannah.
I was thinking how would I fit in there on a day to day
basis? Without a new profession or something radical I wouldn't fit in there
either. I don't work in Savannah, am
single, and as a gay male don't think it would be easy to find my way into the
community of the downtown arts and entertainment of Savannah. Savannah, for all its maturity and tolerance,
is still at its heart a lovely open hearted southern town and as much as I
would like to believe I would fit in and enjoy the beauty of Savannah
especially on a weekend such as this past one in early to late spring I
wouldn't fit in with either Starbucks easily.
Contrast that to the other Starbucks(es) in my life. I happen to wake up in the morning across a
river from the gay hood of Wilton Manors.
I can go in to the Starbucks there, not know anyone in there, but I
still feel a connection. There are
couples, singles, straight and gay and I can sit in there and watch the world
come in and go and I don't feel like an outsider I feel included. Again, the coffee is the same, the food
offerings are the same but even the warmth of the baristas (maybe cause they
have some memory that I have been there) make me feel as if I am in the
community. There I feel more naturally
welcome and frankly included. I don't
have to imagine how I fit in, I just do.
I don't have to contemplate how I would have to change my life to be
included, I just am.
There is also the second Starbucks at the Beach, where I can
slip in and nobody really knows my place in the world. Am I a local, slipping away to the beach, do
I live at the beach or am I a tourist feeling that’s since of relief that they
found a Starbucks for that necessary caffeine addiction that I empathize with
so well. This one is embraced by my
passion of late which lovely sunrises is looking over the Atlantic.
This is not meant to be critical of Savannah at all. Just a reality check in my life, I have
thought about possibilities and the downtown scene of Savannah with its artsy
southern charm that wasn't very inviting for me in my childhood, the
possibility of life there really isn't meant for me. It is never a bad thing to be able to figure
out where your home is and as I sit on a long train home a new aura of
contentment.
For those of you who celebrate Passover, Easter, or just the awakening of spring may you all have a fabulous week and enjoy the changing season.
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