Trip 1:  Stranger with an Umbrella.  Caught in a downpour, leaving the bookstore with my new purchase heading to The Temple coffeeshop in Sacramento, CA.  The unprepared, like me, running frantically.  Those with unbrellas laughing at the rest of us.  Then a man appears with an extra large unbrella and asks if I would like to walk with him.  Savior!  He walks me to the front door of The Temple and I escape inside to dry over steaming coffee and my novel.

Trip 2:  The Weirdo.  Glorious sunny afternoon.  One of my great delights is outdoor dining...whether that's dinner on the patio or an ice cream cone on a park bench.  This day, it would be coffee at The Temple, seated in a patch of sunlight.  Tiny table for two.  It was wonderful, quaint and peaceful until the weirdo arrived.  "Do you mind if I sit here?"  he asked pointing six inches from me at the chair across the table.  It's one of those times you want to say, "no" but since I didn't want to be rude, I said, "ok."  He sat down at my tiny table for two, never mind the completely empty tables all around us.

Trip 3:  Sanguine Runner.  Renae is the fun-loving, wise, wild, tatooed, Jesus-loving friend of  Kathryn. She's a marathon running wonder, a wife, mother, leader and refreshing like spring wind.  We laughed over lattes.  Brillant.

Trip 4:  Doctor in Scrubs.  My husbands best friend lives in Sacramento.  He is strangely like my husband, with the same verbiage and voice inflections.  Funny, much like Tory.  I left with a greater appreciation for their friendship and feeling I made a new friend, too.

Trip 5:  Beautiful Best Friend.  When it's time to leave, tradition has it, we get up early, and Kat always gives me a glamorous hairdo for the airplane ride home.  Much more spectacular than necessary.  I came to Sac to see her, and finally at 6am, on the way to the airport, we decide we have time for coffee.  We never really have time, and she is trying to get a few more pictures of me, "oh, stop right there...the sunrise in the background."  Click.  We dash into The Temple and race out again with coffee and muffins.    "Wait, right there, with the tree behind you."  (She's an amazing photographer, just one of her myriad of talents.)  It's tradition, running late, glam hair flying, juggling coffee, napkins, car keys, luggage, last minute photos, laughing, and oops, we took a wrong turn.  It happens everytime.  Different cities, different coffee venues but always the same.  We HAD to get coffee.  I make my flight with lots of laughs and a little stress.  I love my best friend and I love life lived in around the coffeeshop.

                                                                                                                     Glam Hair by Kat