I am currently sitting in an adorable little coffee shop called, "Cafe 53" and there is French music playing in the background, hello Heaven. I stumbled upon this hidden gem last week or possibly the one before, when I was desperately searching for a place to print my resume. You know those days when even the smallest, simple task seems close to impossible? Well, that was this day for me, but thankfully for this little cafe and the great people who work here, it started to turn around. Now, I will spare you the pathetic details of my roaming the neighborhood in search of a way to print a piece of paper, something I now realize I took for granted up to this point, and jump right to opening the door at Cafe 53. It is a lovely, narrow, you-could-almost-pass-by-it type of place that offers free internet and a service called "Print With Me". It turns out, for those new to this as I am, that there are places (not public libraries or print stores, I tried those) that simply have a printer in them where you can email your work to the printer and out it comes. I felt like I had struck gold. Well, this would have been a wonderful option if I had my computer on me, but despite lots of deep breaths and many attempts, I couldn't figure out how to navigate Google Drive on my phone and successfully email the needed document to the handy little device parked right next to the dish return. I am sure there are many of you reading this right now thinking, "Jess, it couldn't have been that hard" and I will agree with you, but remember those days where simple tasks become challenging ones...Ok, so, it appeared that I wasn't going to be leaving with a resume in hand and in fact, I did not. I did leave with a delicious iced coffee that as I opened the door to leave ended up all over the floor and inside my stylish Crocs (yes, I know, I felt it was important to add that adjective, to assure you that I wasn't walking around in the big garden shoe variety, those are for in house use only, right Alec?) Well, it must have appeared that I was on the verge of turning into a puddle similar to the one that was on and at my feet, because an extremely kind man stepped out from behind the counter with a mop and a story that in his country spilling coffee is actually a sign of good luck. Now, I am pretty sure that he was just pulling my leg so that I wouldn't cry in front of him, but I fell for it hook, line, and sinker as he mopped up the mess. He then invited me back up to the counter where he poured a new iced coffee. As he was mixing, I asked him where he is from that turns a sad, coffee spill into good luck and he responded that he was from "Jordan." We then got to talking about a mutual person that we may know and I left with a smile on my face and a new iced coffee. This moment reminded me of the saying that I have read on bumper stickers, Pinterest boards, and been told by a wonderful collection of people, "Life is about the little things" or is it, "Don't sweat the small stuff?" Either way, it was an important reminder for me as I can sometimes lose sight of these little moments when trying to figure out bigger ones. Thank you Cafe 53 and polite stranger, I needed that.
Well, this time I didn’t risk the coffee and went straight for a chocolate scone instead and I must say, I am very please with my choice as I sit here devouring it thinking about how to cram two weeks worth of updates into one blog post. Bare with me, this could be a bumpy ride, just as the flight was that we took out to Nebraska (told you, a bit rough). Regardless, we went to spend Labor Day with Scott's family and I was able to cross another state off my list, experience Nebraska and meet the rest of his family, including his newest nibling (a word Scott uses to describe his nieces and nephews) who was not a month old yet and I had a hard time putting down. Now, I have heard about and even watched a documentary (yup, it happened) on Nebraska sports fans. I have come to learn and entirely appreciate, that “fan” may actually not even cover it. Game day in Nebraska is not like anything I have ever experienced, this I realize isn’t hard seeing as I am from Vermont and while there are so many amazing things about my beloved state, team sports is not its strong suit. So, we did it up in Nebraska where we started off going to a farmer’s market in Lincoln, where I began to get a taste of the extreme team love. Everyone was wearing red or some variation of Husker paraphernalia. Well, I jumped on board and joined in by getting a shirt and hat to be ready for the volleyball and football games we would be going to. I love team spirit as anyone who knew me in high school remembers. Despite my consistently finishing last in cross country ski races (those are VT sports for you), I cheered incredibly loud for my State Champion teammates and I am pretty positive was told on a number of occasions that if there were a team spirit award, I would receive it. So, regardless of my lack of knowledge, I love cheering and looking the part!
91,000 people fit in that stadium and the game has been sold out since 1962 (thank you Husker documentary)! It is really something. I took countless pictures and tagged one #seaofred, because honestly, look at that picture! Well, it turns out what I thought was a "Jessie original" is already a well-known Nebraska tagline. Go back to the drawing board, Jess.
The rest of the trip continued to be a blast and was filled with wonderful family time (thank you so much, Schepers), seeing lots and lots of corn, and experiencing the Omaha Zoo. All I can say is, if you haven't gone to Nebraska yet, do so. Not only will they treat you with extreme kindness regardless of where you are from or how much you know about football, but you can eat Runzas (a delicious hot sandwich where dipping it in ketchup is encouraged, not outlawed) and ride a chairlift over rhinos!
We continued the sports craze the following weekend back in Chicago, by donning our Husker gear again and heading up to the north side of the city to watch the game at a sports bar called, Kirkwood, where many Nebraska fans gather. There was again so much red, that I felt as though we were right back in Lincoln. The place was jamming long before the game began and fortunately enough for Scott's keen eye, we were able to get a table out on the patio, which made watching a football game on a gorgeous afternoon way more enjoyable. Shortly after scoring the prime location we saw a couple sporting Husker clothing looking around for a place to sit. We invited them over and quickly learned that they actually live in Lincoln and were up in Chicago for the weekend. Through further conversation we learned that they know some of the same people and were reminded that this world while huge, is actually quite small. We had a great time watching the game, or rather joining in the cheers when the rest of the people that could see the screens erupted into shouts, and meeting other Nebraska fans. Go Big Red! (Don't give me too much credit, this is also not a Jessie original).
