Sitting at Starbucks

I've never been a Schedule Girl. I like the idea of winging it, of going with that good old flow. But I've realized that when there are three kids in the equation, being easy breezy about time is neither truly possible nor truly ideal. So. A few weeks into this new school year and I find myself stumbling into some kind of schedule. Nothing's fixed quite yet, but I'm testing options. One time block that seems pretty set is the time between dropping the big girls (@ 8:30/8:45) and retrieving Middle Girl at 11:45. Now Preschool is a ways from home, so I tend to stay put near Preschool. And where do I go? Well, Starbucks of course. I go there, I order my bold blend (a new friend converted me from Pike Place), I plug in and I enter a different realm. I know this sounds hokey, but I do; I escape - for three whole hours - my world of kiddie chaos. I think and I write and I watch. I watch people sip their lattes and scarf their muffins and read and write and talk. I witness a little corner of humanity. I connect dots. I tell myself stories about people I don't know. I wonder if anyone speculates about me?

There is a young woman, legs crossed in the window, earphones in, sipping a vast coffee with a green straw. Her brow is furrowed, twisted with some breed of concentration or concern. She taps keys and pauses, smiles, looks around. Through tired eyes, she looks out, at the people, the passing cars, the obscured slivers of city sky. She is there for a reason, a profound, if inscrutable reason. In that window, sitting, sipping, squinting, smiling, studying. Life. Her own. All of it.

Do you abide by a schedule during the week? Do you go anywhere to escape and think? Do you think it is important for all of us to sit and study humanity? Is this especially critical for writers to do? Are you a Starbucks loyal? Why do you think it is so important for me to have this time, this time away, this time immersed in strangers and self?