Friday, July 13, 2007

Coffee "Date"

This post was supposed to be up a couple weeks ago and I totally forgot. Better late than never, right? When I lived in Reno my friend Carrie and I had a regular ritual of meeting each other at Starbucks for a coffee date. Moving to Indiana put a little crimp in that habit, so we've taken to the long-distance version instead.

I am so thankful for my relationship with Carrie. We hit it off immediately when we met at church in Reno about 6 years ago, and from then on she has always been there for me. From random road trips when we just needed to get out of town... to taking on the job of taking care of Ricky when I had to go back to work... she has been an incredibly faithful counselor, friend, and sounding board. You can only imagine the restraint she must had to have when, after dropping me off at the airport to fly home to Chicago for ONE week... she picked me back up and listened (remarkably calm I must say), as I announced that I was going to marry some guy I had just met 6 days before who lived in Indiana. And... oh yeah, I was going to have to move. She barely blinked when I stood in front of her 2 weeks later in a wedding dress that I decided to try on "just for fun"... and even shrugged "what the heck" as I plopped down $600 for HALF of the down payment on the thing... as the lady at the counter was asking when the wedding date was and I replied matter-of-factly, "Oh - I'm not really engaged yet!". :)

After all that... she still answers the phone when I call.

We try to do this every few weeks or so. Long-distance coffee dates have nothing on the real thing... but they certainly are better than nothing. The pictures above are of my iced,venti, non-fat, sugar-free vanilla caramel macchiato, and one of myself while we were on the phone chatting. Carrie also opted for friendship over humiliation and took a self-portrait at the Starbucks out there in Reno... but I can't get it off my phone!

So here's to Java & Friendship. Thanks for STILL being there Carrie. Love you girl.



Even Ricky loved Starbucks Coffee Dates!


UPDATE 7/14:

Word of advice on the long-distance coffee dates... it's a good idea to stop and consider time zone changes before calling your friend. I called Carrie this morning at 10am my time... forgetting it was 7am in Reno. Oops! Hey - when you need coffee... you need it now!

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Coffee friends are the BEST.

The picture of Ricky in the baseball outfit hit me straight in the heart...my baby Davis has the exact same one. I love it even more now! I love how you write about him so easily...I can tell he is one special little guy. (I wrote "is" on purpose...because he still IS.)

Christy said...

That is just about the sweetest thing! I love that you do that! I should do that with my friend who lives in Texas. Although I can see us trying with kids and the phone chatting not being so hot! To fun....The pictures are priceless and melt my heart! Isn't friendship grand :)!

janet l moran said...

I loved meeting Carrie at your wedding. When she told me she took care of Ricky I knew she must be a special friend.

Anonymous said...

Meghan, I love to read your blog.
You always brighten my day and you are such a joy to know. We are blessed to have you in the family. I guess Eric didn't need our (sisters, nieces and myself) "help" finding a wife, he did really well on his own.
Oh Yeah, I know what you are getting for your anniversary, but I can't tell. Sorry, you will have to up the bribe.

Anonymous said...

This is so GREAT!!! A coffee date at Starbucks over the phone.....why didn't I think of that??!! We should get a circle of coffee dates going and we can conference call it and all talk to eachother.....or send group texts....and pics......this could be fun!!! Although, since I'm moving to podunk country and the closest Starbucks is 2 hours away, I'd really have to plan this well!!

Carrie sounds like an incredible friend. And I love your spontaneity. I'm trying to be more like that.

Java & Friendship.....nothing like it!

nurse jen said...

This is a great idea! My really close friend, Amanda and I used to meet at Starbucks each week when she and her husband lived in Columbus! We would pick a book to read and then try to discuss it. However, most of the time we just chatted and laughed!! Great memories! In fact, her husband laughed b/c it took us 4 months to get through the Purpose Driven Life since we were so chatty and would lose focus!! LOL! :) When they moved to Chicago 2 years ago, I was so sad. Not only did I miss them terribly, I missed our Starbucks chats each week :( This is a great idea!! I think I will go and get a non-fat Chai Tea Latte today and give her a call! :) By the way, I would love to hear the story behind how you and Eric met! It sounds so interesting!! 6 days and you knew!? THAT'S AMAZING! Y'all are so cute, too. When's that "Annibirthary" present coming?
Take care,
Jen

melissa said...

I'm so glad you and Carrie are able to keep up your coffee dates :) She's the greatest! It will be so wonderful to see her when we go out to Reno in October.