Communities or "Oh, you're that guy who works with the kids!"

You know you're part of a community when everybody at your favorite coffee shop knows who you are. =) And with Will now working there, I feel that I'm part of the West Main Street Beaner's community. =)

Too bad I'm going to be leaving. =(

However, I am really looking forward to becomming part of the Grand Rapids community. Liz already got me hooked on Global Infusion, located on Diamond Avenue. Luckily for me, GI has an exclusively organic and Fair Trade Tea and Coffee Bar!


As nervous as I am to transition yet again, I realize how blessed I am to have friends in so many places. Some of my networks include: Sandusky, Spring Arbor, Kalamazoo, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, Howell, Rochester, Beresford (South Dakota), Columbia (South Carolina), Virginia, Germany (where Liz has the priviledge of going in a short while), and now Washington, D.C. (I can't wait to go, btw! =D). I feel like I have networks of friends and family all over! It's so funny, because that's not my goal. I prefer having a tight, intimate friendship with a few people rather than a superflous. tacky, cliché of a relationship with a lot of people that I really feel I do not know the hearts of. Call me strange or tacky, but I would rather discuss theories on life with somebody than go to the bar with them.

...maybe that's why coffee has always won my vote over alcohol. Plus, there's the whole "inhibiting" one's judgment. I think the Buddhists have it right with this one - I'm gonna stay clear of alcohol. It's caused enough stress in my life as it is, and I've never even been in trouble because of it.

I don't know how I got from the girl who works at Beaner's telling me that she remembered my job to a theological discussion on the consumption of alcohol, but I think this is where I say goodbye.

Domo arigato. =) Oyasuminasai!

Love,
David