8:13 AM…At the Market. What a fabulous first several minutes here this morning! Ran into B while getting a Saturday Flat White and after months of greeting one another every Saturday, today she mentioned her partner of many, many years who sends B to the market with a list because she, the partner, does the cooking but B enjoys the Market. What a gift, that conversation—and the love with which B spoke…the smile in her voice and her being, as well as on her face, telling me about the love of her life.

Then, I went to find a table on the water-side, back in a corner by the segmented garage-door windows. A woman who was reading offered me a spot at her table. I thanked her with the assurance that I too was going to be reading and writing and wouldn’t disrupt her peace. She smiled. I sat, set down the flat white and a croissant, and took pen, paper, and book, out of my bag. She glanced up. I smiled and handed her the book I was reading. “I didn’t want to ask—but I was curious what someone else would bring here to read!” We spoke briefly about both of our books and then peaceably tucked back into them. Ten minutes or so later, the vendor she had been waiting for had opened and off she went.

Her chair and another was then scooped up by a mother and her young son who were having a ‘breakfast picnic.’. They set up in front of the window, the boy’s wee feet resting on the hinge between segments. Each of them enjoying a croissant and hot cocoa.

Sun is pouring in and people are of good cheer. Such a blessing, this place. Such a blessing, these moments. Thank you for the nearness of you.