A Random Encounter At Starbucks



I had a random encounter at Starbucks yesterday that will play in my memory for a while.

Since I can work from anywhere with my laptop and an Internet connection, I decided that the Starbucks in Lakewood would be a nice respite from my (rather messy) home office and it would serve as a nice venue for a morning meeting.

It was a brilliant move on Starbucks’ part to install T-Mobile hotspots in their stores; the not so brilliant move was a lack of planning for the quantity and placement of electrical outlets needed to support the laptop crowds (with weak batteries) who flock to work/surf there over a cup of coffee and scone.

Even with a brand new IBM laptop (for work only – my personal laptop of choice is a Powerbook) I always sense a bit of electrical-outlet anxiety upon entering a Starbucks – will I get a plug?! Will my battery possibly last long enough if I can’t maneuver close enough to the outlet?! (Next time you’re in Starbucks count the number of laptop users and outlets – users will always outnumber outlets!)

As I entered the Lakewood store I spotted an outlet with one free jack just below the end of the counter facing the window. The only complication was a non-laptop user was sitting closest to the plug.

Hmmm. Dilemma.

My cord would reach, but I’d have to navigate around him just a bit to plug it in. Not a problem for me, but in case it might be a bother for him I explained my predicament. He kindly offered to move over a couple of spots so I could set up shop nearest the plug.

As I unpacked we chatted. I had briefly glanced at the textbook that he was reviewing that to me seemed filled with math symbols like Pi. I asked if he was a math teacher.

He smiled and said he was studying Hebrew. Wow, I guess I took a VERY quick glance!

I was embarrassed, but he was gracious and made a joke about how difficult Hebrew was – it’s read from right to left.

Ah, Hebrew. I silently anticipated he would say next that he was associated with Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS), most likely as a professor as he was older with a full head of white hair.

Another swing and a miss for my intuition; he was a student at DTS, not a professor. Then he shared his story.

He and his wife had been successful marriage and family therapists for years in Nacogdoches, TX, where they both had thriving practices. A year and a half ago they made a complete lifestyle change and moved to Dallas so he could enroll at DTS full-time. It had been his heart’s desire for some time to be a pastor and now he was pursuing that dream.

And I was impressed.

I wish I had kept track of the conversations I’ve had this past week, month, year with friends, family, even strangers who have a dream; something that they would rather be doing at this moment in time other than what they are now doing – if they could.

I know what this feels like. Some days I sit at my desk and I think I’ve had enough. I need a change. I’m going to sell my house and my furniture down to the barest of possessions and then I’m going to ----

But I can never finish the sentence so I don’t.

As a single parent, I always (jokingly) told my kids to expect that when they finished high school I would make a radical change in my lifestyle – like take some time out to live in Cancun and braid hair on the beach.

Ariel’s a freshman at SMU, Hannah is applying to begin classes there next fall and I have yet to purchase my plane ticket.

If only I could figure out how to make money cooking, gardening, making candles, writing and public speaking instead of selling software I would. Somewhere in there is a formula, I just haven’t solved the equation yet.

This stranger at Starbucks has. I’ll be thinking on that one for a while.

Posted: Wed - November 9, 2005 at 08:20 AM          

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