A crater of comfort during my favorite Long Island coffee shop

Living on a South Shore, we mostly find retreat in a warm, relaxing atmosphere of a coffee emporium on Main Street in Patchogue.

Even on a brightest days, a Roast Coffee Tea Trading Co. is dim and cozy. Tables are side by side with small room to travel between. Strangers share space during a vast farm-style list toward a back.

Finding a chair can be formidable on a swarming day, though a sound of a business amenities me. Despite a din, it’s unfit not to overhear pieces and pieces of people’s lives, some sad, some heartwarming and some hopeful.

I have been benefaction for initial dates of those looking for adore around a internet. The scenes are a same, dual people awkwardly introducing themselves, articulate a bit louder than approaching and shouting as they share stories.

I watched as a family sat and played a house diversion Apples to Apples as they sipped coffee and prohibited chocolate.

Another time, a lady told someone on a phone — and a rest of us in a emporium — a unhappy story of how she mislaid control of her daughter and is operative to have her behind in her life.

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I have seen aged friends accommodate by possibility on a bustling day. Once we watched a immature tyro spend hours studying, maybe for an exam. She was young, seemed assured and worked hard. we prayed that she would succeed.

I have seen friends with crochet needles in palm assistance any other in a artistic process.


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The people who intruigued me many are those who come in alone. Some wear headphones to retard out sound or listen to music. Some concentration on their work, customarily on computers, and seem to omit a universe around them.

I consternation what kind of impact their activity will have in this world. Could one be a subsequent J.K. Rowling, formulating a literary empire? Could one be scheming to run for domestic bureau to one day change a world? Maybe one is essay a lyrics to a destiny No. 1 song, or a minute to a desired one in a military. What outcome will their difference have?

Sunday afternoon is my favorite time to visit; it’s a pacific impulse before a bustling week ahead. we go alone and sequence my common crater of Earl Grey tea and infrequently a cranberry scone. As most as we adore a atmosphere of this special shop, we acknowledge I’ve never been a coffee drinker.

Once we find a mark in a swarming room, we settle in. we form on my laptop, retreating to my possess world. The sounds ease me — a harsh of a coffee beans and a bubbling of a milk, a baristas formulating their coffee magic.

Laughter and a strain from a beyond speakers ease my nerves and assistance me focus.


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Sometimes we review veteran growth articles for my pursuit as a teacher, and infrequently we send out digital newsletters for a gym owned by a friend. Sometimes we blog about my work or write only to get out my thoughts and ideas.

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In a shop, we feel partial of a beat of the microcommunity. we grin when we consider that maybe we am unknowingly a declare to something extraordinary.

Reader Kristine Houghtalen lives in Patchogue.