Canton Street Cafe in Roswell, GA; or A Day of New Things

I picked this day as "A Day of New Things." I needed to catapult myself out of my comfort zone and experience places, faces, and tastes yet unknown. (Don't underestimate the amount of separation anxiety I experienced. When you become a parent, you tend to change the name "routine" to "ritual," and call it a day.) So I drove myself to downtown Roswell where I never dared do anything except drive by, saying things like "Oh, that looks nice...I'll have to go sometime...by myself, of course."

I wrapped my hands tightly around my warm mug of tea as I would have a life preserver and inhaled its still-rising steam. I tried a flavor I'd never had before for the just for the sake of its newness. I ordered the pancakes with syrup, which were almost as sweet as the server. I wanted to tell her how nice it was to be waited on rather than to be the one doing the waiting, but I just left her a good tip instead.

From my perfect window-table, I was able to watch passersby, and I wondered about their lives. Where they were going. Where they'd been. What they knew about life that I didn't. I also looked around inside to admire the stained-glass windows into which the morning light had begun to sift. I wondered what the "88" meant, but I also wanted to draw my own conclusions. Double infinity.

As the rest of the morning crowd began to find their way to the cafe, I reluctantly decided to shove off to explore the rest of downtown Roswell. Gathering my things and heading toward the antique shops and eclectic finds that were just a short walk from the Canton Street Cafe, I was happy that I'd taken a chance on the unknown and unexpected. And I was grateful to expand my comfort zone just a little bit to ensure that they were now included.