The odd one out.

*Bliss.
My coffee just arrived.
It's a "Sunday Latte" which means it double your regular size.
Excellent!
It's 5pm.
It's a Saturday afternoon.
And without my best friend nearby to call for backup at the last minute
I find myself at one of my local cafes enjoying the best company i could find at such short notice.. Me!
I was literally driving passed this cafe no more than 10 minutes ago.
Instead of going home to a cold bedroom that is in dire need of tidying i did a U-turn & am now sitting in warm, comfortable surrounds escaping the rainy day that has descended on my home town.
My earphones are plugged in & i am whisked to a million miles away.
I'm listening to... well, i wont tell you.
But it is something courageous that soothes the soul.
Aka something that wont interrupt my train of thought.
For some reason my creative writing juices are flowing today so i have decided to take full advantage of this.
To use & abuse!
As i look around at the tables nearby, i note small groups of people.
IPads are being turned this way & that as a group of women peruse some photos.
'Ooh, look at this photo!'
The kids near me are hardly making a noise as they are being entertained by their parents IPhones.
Yes, i am very grateful for this!
*I am interrupted by a text from a good friend who i haven't seen in a couple of weeks.
Stoked to be hearing from them i catch myself smiling from ear to ear.
And then it dawns on me that, to an observer, i just became 'That weird girl who's sitting alone smiling to herself.'
You know what? I don't care.
Smile!*
On the next table down from me is a guy surrounded by 3 women who all seem to be vying for his attention.
I wonder if he's just lucky or if they are desperado's...?!
Taking out my earphones i realise that he's asking them the quiz questions from today's newspaper.
Ooh, i know the answer!
Although i am very tempted to throw something at him to get his attention, tell him the answer & then melt back into my own little world, i restrain myself.
The married couple sitting next to me seem to be quaffing some red wine.
Or at least attempting to look like they are.
I am somewhat jealous of their choice in drink but i figure I would just look like a sad drunkard if i had my own bottle of red... coffee is a safe choice!
Maybe next time I'm here I'll ask them to spike my coffee.. add a little Baileys to it!
There's a mother & daughter sitting close by.
The mum is drawing a picture of some sort~ i wish i could see it.
And then we have me.
The odd one out.
The only person in the cafe who is here alone.
Writing a rough draft of this blog entry into my little notebook.
Yes, it's old school to actually put literal pen to literal paper, i know, but old school is apparently 'cool' these days & well.. i don't want to be left out of the cool club now do i?
Latte is finished so i guess it's time to venture out into the cold.
See you soon loves.
xoxThe middle aged couple next to me are quaffing some red wine.

those unexpected phone calls..

..that make you realise people actually do care.

And after you hang up, you want to have a little cry about it because that phone call (or text message) came at *just* the right time.

And the person who made the phone call/text has absolutely no idea just how much you really needed it & appreciated it.

Whether you realised it at the time or not, you really did need that little gesture of love & friendship more than even you knew.

You know how sometimes when you hit a bit of a flat spot in your little life & all you feel like doing is crawling into a hole & hibernating hoping that it will all go away or fix itself..

But instead of dwelling in your own dark hatred for life & your insignificant problems, you push through it, suck it up & get on with life?

You might even feel like no one has even noticed your lack of 'sparkiness' as of late.

For some reason you think you can fool people into a false sense of believing that you are A-ok if you just keep smiling, even if you're drowning on the inside.

Comfort is found in the thought that you can just fly under the radar, put on a facade to protect yourself for as long as you need to~ admit it, you've done this before haven't you? :)

Fake it until you make it?

There are a thousand thoughts, feelings, emotions racing through your mind.

Love, life, work, family, friends.. the list could go on forever.

Where do you even start to pick yourself up from?

By this stage you're probably tricking yourself into believing that there's nothing wrong.

***

I was chatting to a friend just the other day about all of this.

(Confession: that conversation was my inspiration for today's post. You know who you are.)

They had noticed someone wasn't their usual effervescent self & they seemed a bit flat the last few times they'd seen them, so what did they do?

Picked up their phone, rang them up & asked if they were ok.

'Hey, you seemed a bit flat the last few times i saw you.. is everything ok?'

A good old fashioned phone call. Straight up.

It doesn't need to be anything major.

Not a long drawn out DnM for 3hours on a Monday night.

Just the phone call in itself can put your mind at ease knowing that someone out there actually noticed & took the initiative to check up on you.

It's the best. And by that, i mean BEST.

xox