Comfort & Joy

To draw the curtains at night on a street where people bent against the wind, and where a steady whirl of snowflakes blurred the outlines of trees and shrubs, and made the trees black against the heavy gray sky, and to turn to a room where a fire glowed in the basket grate and a smell of fresh bread filled the house -- this was comfort, security, peace, community. - Dorothy Day

We miss the true weather of Winter, and the comfort and joy that comes along with it, in Florida. We don't need to step inside a coffee shop to warm up with the most amazing maple soy latte as I had in Arabica Coffee Co. in downtown Portland. In Florida, we are buying an iced latte to cool off.

Emily and I got our coffee and sat near the back on a bright orange love seat that looked very vintage-y to me. It reminded Emily of the couch in the TV show "Friends", and it did, but smaller.

People lingered here, with their books, studies, and laptops, sipping locally roasted coffee. I realized as I was finishing my maple soy latte that I wished I had gotten a bigger cup.
Emily and I sat here, lingering like the locals, enjoying our coffee, talking for an hour or so catching up on life, before setting out into the chilly weather to explore the streets of Portland.