There Is Always Hope

Ok, let me create this picture…..

Me in the line at Starbucks standing behind a 20 year old girl….

Hair balled up and stringing and tagging and a general mess….

Tee shirt was too short on both ends…

Low rise jeans coulda used a higher rise and a coupla more sizes…

She had acquired some body art….

Piercings, studs and all sorts of metallic additions had been added to her previously attractive young self….

Cigarettes, make-up, hair brush and all sorts of other stuff sticking out of jeans pocket…

Popping bubbles, she pulled a handful of cash and change out of her pocket and then dropped a quarter….

The quarter rolled under the edge of the counter, she kicked it and left it…..

She spent $8 on a Starbucks snack for herself…

I picked up her quarter and handed it to her….

I know that I wasn’t as cool as her but I can remember when a quarter made the difference….

As she continued to pop and chatter and rattle I ordered my coffee and paid with my Starbucks app on my iPhone…

When she stopped the entire store with this question….

What in the “blanket blank blank blank” did you just do……

Oh, I just paid for my coffee with my phone…

How…..

iPhone app…..

Dude….

And you’re an old guy….

You are…

You are twice as old as me…..

What is an old guy doing with cool stuff like that…..

As she popped and rattled out of the shop….

I grinned and thought…..

Dude, gal you just made my day…..

I am twice as old as you and  that means I am only 40…….

I am twice as cool as you and I do it with clothes that fit and without holes in my body and dye in my skin…..

I am twice as smart at you cause I can pick up a quarter……

So I sipped on Pike Place and pondered…..

We really do in a different world…..

However….

A quarter is still a quarter….

Dollars still consist of quarters…..

Young people like her still do stupid to fit in with other stupid people….

My belligerently wistful young friend today reminded me…..

No matter the package….

There….

There is always hope…..

rks