The 3rd Place

When the kids were young one of our favorite places to go was Blockbuster.  It was such a happening place. If we felt like our lives were dull and boring we just went to Blockbuster and rented a movie because through movies the whole world was at our fingertips. For some reason we just felt part of something bigger than our own tiny lives . Walking through the aisles hobnobbing with all those actors and all those stories.

Well there’s probably a lot of you that don’t remember Blockbuster. It was the place that you went to rent movies,  VHS, no less. You basically rented them for a few days to watch in the comfort or your own living room and you had to have them back on time or there was an added monenetary penalty.   There was one in every neighborhood.  Netflix, AppleTV, CraveTV and the like, pretty much put it out of business. It reminded me of Shop Around the Corner in the movie “You’ve Got Mail”.  True, these new online options are much more convenient but when I witnessed the demolition of the Blockbuster that we affectionately called our own, it was indeed the end of an era.

Currently, the magic place that took over this role in our lives is the local Chapters/Starbucks. Well, it certainly did for me anyway.  It rings similar to Petula Clark’s ‘Downtown”. I have been trying to spend more time at home these days, not driving around wasting gas or time and just crafting my business from my basement but after a couple of long days a home, on my own, I’ve just got to get out and where do I get out to?  You guessed it.  Chapters/Starbucks. An excellent combination that I wish I had come up with.  I am there a lot.  When I say a lot, I mean the sales clerks and barista’s know my name and my preferences.  I have lengthy conversations with them.  I meet most of my friends there.  So I am probably seen as a social butterfly but seriously,  I spend a lot of time there on my own.  Very often my daughter will meet me there and we will ooh and awe over the latest magazines while sipping a peach green tea lemonade.  Or my husband will join me and stand in the sports magazine aisle sipping a frappacino while browsing a magazine.  He doesn’t venture out into the book part of the store as he hasn’t much interest in books.  My son will come to peruse the books and grabbing a beverage will be secondary to him as he really is much more interested in the books (and he works at Starbucks). Its the place that my mom and I spend every Sunday afternoon at.  She loves to browse the gift section of the store as she always has someone she has to buy a gift for. We taste-test the latest beverages and consume every last bag of sweet bbq chips.  We are very put out when they don’t have them.

Howard Schultz, the founder of Starbucks, in a book I read about Starbucks, explains how he wanted Starbucks to be the third place.  The first place being home, of course and the 2nd place being where we work and the 3rd place was meant to be Starbucks.  Someone in my family was quoted as saying ‘Coffee isn’t just a beverage, its a way of life’.  Well, I must say Howard worked his magic on me because I don’t even drink coffee and its actually my 2nd place.  I am more likely to drink the kool-aid, if you know what I mean.  There is just something about walking through the door of a Starbucks.  The smell of the coffee beans.  The people huddled around tiny tables engrossed in conversations or secrets, completely oblivious to the world around.  At least they appear oblivious when you are hovering for an empty table and they pretend they don’t even see you.  Starbucks or Chapters  could probably start charging for the tables. There are many customers that are there every single time I am and I think to myself “Don’t they have a life?”.  Ding Dong….I’m there and they are probably thinking the exact thing about me.  Every movie night ends at Starbucks…very often with friends.  Some come with us and some we just accidentally meet there.  Every good road trip starts with a Starbucks beverage.  Sometimes I have even jokingly called it my ‘other church’.  I have spent hours there with my iPad and journal and notebook, writing, journaling and planning my life, doing bible study homework and talking to my Creator with the written word.  Often it  has become a hallowed place.  I would love to think that I bring God’s presence to every space I occupy for the time that I occupy it at least.  Not sure if this is happening but that would be my goal.

But the truth is, this venue is a very large and crucial part of my life.  And I am not embarrassed to admit that.   Maybe I should be.  And its not just Starbucks….I LOVE Chapters.  Love walking every aisle and discovering what is new for the season.  They have really embraced the gift giving demographic.  Chapters has beautiful wares – I want them all but of course, I cannot.  They say the best gift is the one you want for yourself so many a wonderful gift is found in this sanctuary. And I love the books.  I truly do.  One day I want to see a book I wrote lined up on the Best Sellers shelf.  Probably more likely to end up on the $3 table in the back but I don’t care, at least it will have meant that I wrote it.   I’m working on it.

One of the most meaningful aspects of Starbucks/Chapters….well more Starbucks, I guess…is that my entire family from Vancouver to Toronto and as far away as New Zealand, all feel the same way we do about the place and we know that its very likely that at any given time at least one other of us will also be sipping a  decadent beverage from this establishment.  Yes…its expensive.  When I think about the amount of my paycheque I have given up to these two places…well I don’t even want to think about it.  Please don’t make me think about it.  I just want to keep loving it.  Keep spending time there.  Keep meeting my family and friends there.  Keep running into the strangers I know so well there. It does have its own heartbeat and pulse and I’m not planning on quitting anytime soon.  Unless, of course,  I hear from heaven.