Who is? Who Belongs? Who Will Be?

 I h ad the pleasure of sitting in a tea shop (I know, the avid latte lover in a custom tea shop!) with some of my sorority sisters yesterday.  

We were just talking, no phones out, just sitting on the comfy sofas inside the well-considered shop in a part of Connecticut I am still discovering.

What was supposed to be a "look see" one hour visit turned into discovering a third place and us testing out different aspects of the menu, vibing with the curated musical selection since the owner was a former music industry professional, and letting time just do her thing.

While we were sitting and laughing, sipping different flavors, meeting the DJ and his son, in walks a larger group of people-who-don't-look-like-me. They were travelers looking for respite.

Warmly welcomed, seated, shown the menu, and asked what they were in the mood for, you could visibly see this relaxation overcome them.  See, the power of connection and humanity is that is can welcome you in, it can disarm any fears, and it can have you consider what it means to be together in this earth.

I had a sorta-glance over my shoulder and that two-tables-full-party was enjoying the vibe, almost speechless on the food, and were able to renew before the remainder of their travels. I guess there was a train station nearby because all of them had rolling luggage. 

Anyway, after my Sorors and I finally left like hours later, we walked a bit outside the tea shop and a man was sitting outside his establishment. He gave us his card and told us about the vegan ice cream he makes. We made note to come back.

Next door to that was a barber shop and a braiding shop and a few other eclectic shops across the street in this near-downtown area up in the valley.

While I was preparing to leave, I turned around and looked at people who were standing outside talking, just enjoying the lovely weather and each other. I smiled, got in my car and drove about 40 minutes north of there because it is a solo weekend for me and I wanted to go to that bookstore.  yes, it was a big box owned bookstore, but they had lovely papers, pens, stationery, and an enormous selection for me to consider for my book clubs. I wasn't in the shopping mood, but the vibing mood, so the big picture window of this in-the-mall-store gave me glimpses of people going by.

I settled down into a little nook, picked up a couple titles I hadn't heard of before and probably wouldn't have been on my radar since my literary work has centered Foundational Black American Women Writers. I still love the power of words and the expert use of story from women writers, so I decided to sit down and see about these books. In all honesty, I just wanted to muse and watch, so this gave me a view of the people outside the store and the people in the store looking at the "New and Noteworthy" section.

Again, a bit of time just floated away, no phones, no scrolling, just being.  

Then, a lady sat down in the chair near me, separated by a cute little coffee table.

I looked up at her and smiled, nodded a hello and asked her what was she reading. Unlike me, she came with the book already opened to a section and looked the way I do when I am home about to lose myself in the story.

Her face lit up, she smiled, and told me about the book. She also said she wasn't sure if she really wanted to buy it buy it and welcomed the opportunity to visit the story again.  I said, "same, see, I am trying to decide" and showed her the two books I was looking at, one was set in a toney part of our state.

Bibliophiles are a different sort of people.

We have wrestled with words, been in imagined spaces, pondered possibilities, and imagined what it could be. So we have a way of knowing, knowing.

This perfect stranger and I began to chat about books and looked at the "New and Noteworthy" titles that were in our eyesight (neither of us giving up our coveted little spot). We talked about the price of books, the hardcover versus softcover, traveling with books, audiobooks, and of course, some of our favorite genres.

She was reading a bit of a suspense thriller and I was reading a bit of a suspense coming-of-age and a thriller utopia.  

After a time, shopping with companions who understand book people inevitably call and signal they have completed their purchases. I turned away to give her her privacy, but knew our little interlude was coming to an end.

She said it was nice chatting with you and don't forget to check out the bookstore she mentioned. I told her I would on another visit up there. Waved and told her to have a good evening.

I glanced at my clock and it was definitely getting into the evening and I had to make a decision.

Sitting for a bit more, glancing through the titles I had piled up, I ultimately decided that I needed to finish the three I was already in-the-middle-of, so I put them back on the shelf, went to the downstairs part of the bookstore to get the journal and pen I was coming for in the first place, and after letting nature have her moment, left the store to get back on the highway for the 45minute drive home.

What the entire day told me and reminded was that there are more of us than of the power that want to be instruments of other. 

We don't have to let fear win out.

Talking to another human being is what we are meant to be doing, we are meant to be in conversation and in community, sharing this space called life together. It was never meant to be just for the very few to hoard and to decide that someone else doesn't belong because of the way the One Who Created Us decided to color in the lines of their existence.

Whatever the tomorrows of tomorrow will bring, what I do hope is that bring us back to knowing, bring us away from just cocooning behind closed doors of fear and anxiety. I hope it will bring us out of spaces of assumption and take the risk of listening to what another human has to say. 

The day gave me all of that.

Conversation, learning something new, just being.

That is what I hope will be.

©2025. All Rights Reserved. Sitting by the window looking at the world go by remembering we are all connected, thinking about the stories that made a difference in my life, looking forward to more stories to remain enthralled by this shared journey called life.