by Raina Schell
The month before last I spent 10 days in Texas. Ten glorious
days. Before I left I was in a funk, a funk so deep that I could not seem to
pull myself out of it. Simply put, I’d lost my mojo, my motivation, my eternal
optimism, my joie de vivre. I walked around day in and day out in a foul mood,
grumbling and complaining to anyone who would listen and to those who would
not. I didn’t want to be at work helping people, I didn’t want to be writing my
novel, I didn’t want to do much of anything at all. This is how it was when I
flew into Austin Texas one hot and humid Sunday afternoon. The woman I was
staying with, a lovely airbnb/er named
Shelly, met me at a local seafood restaurant and took me out to dinner. The
crawfish étouffée was the marked beginning of the change.
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| Epoch Coffee, Austin Texas |
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| Epoch's Patio |
So what makes the perfect writer’s coffee shop? I will be the first to admit, the coffee has to be good, or tea or whatever you’re drinking. I don’t drink coffee on a regular basis but at Epoch I drank their coffee and it was simply, phenomenal. However, that’s not what made the experience so meaningful and ripe. Epoch truly had everything I have ever looked for in the “perfect writing coffee shop”. The outdoor patio was large and open, the weather perfect. The view was not “crazy good” but somehow it was heart opening.
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| Photo by Raina Schell |
I could stare across the street for a few minutes to regroup
between scenes and find inspiration in the wild grass and trees that grew there,
unencumbered. How can one find inspiration from perfectly manicured lawns? The
patio was on the street but it wasn’t a busy street so there were barely any
cars driving by and the patio itself was raised up a few steps from the
sidewalk as though there was a firm barrier between “them” and “us”. The
perfect coffee shop must have good, soft seats with adequate back support and
still I have yet to find one with seats as perfect as Epoch. An essential
detail that did not go unnoticed is that this enlightened coffee shop incorporates
outlets into the railing where each table is nestled. Not everyone likes quiet
but I do. I don’t like music when I write or loud conversations and Epoch
outside offered exactly that. There were people talking but the tables are not crowded
against one another so unless I focused on trying to hear them, I could not.
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| Epoch's Patio |
Sitting blissfully at Epoch, I did choose to overhear a significant
conversation. A 20 something guy was dating a new girl. He had moved into a new
house with roommates as well and was bemoaning one roommate in particular for
having “big dreams”. I didn’t interrupt though I wanted to. I wanted to tell
him that big dreams are the spark of the future. Big dreams keep us going
sometimes when nothing else can. And most importantly, big dreams can come true
- for without them we have no dreams at all, nothing to strive for and no
accomplishments on the horizon. Dream big and if you fail at least you’ve tried.
I said none of this as I pretended to write or at that moment, read and not
look like I was listening. This guy sounded like he had lost something too, his
own personal spark so I could relate. He was stuck, he didn’t know what the
future held and he was feeling despondent and somewhat negative. But he’d met a
girl recently and when his friend asked him what he liked about her he
responded, “She loves life, she sees everything with fresh eyes, she’s always
happy. Being around her reminds me to look at the joy in life.” That hit a
chord. That’s how I’d been before I fell into my, let’s be honest here, 2 year
funk. Maybe, I thought, that’s how everyone is before they wake up one day to
find that their dreams have passed them by.
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| Epoch's Signage |
Since my return to California I’ve been on the search for
the “perfect writer’s coffee shop” and I have yet to find it. I’ve looked in
SF, Marin County and the East Bay. Next month I will try L.A. If you know of a
hidden gem anywhere in the world that fits the criteria above – a high bar set
by Epoch… please let me and other readers know as soon as possible, we will all
be eternally grateful.
