I’d just finished writing my last coffee shop letter of 2025 when I remembered we were out of envelopes at home.
Opted for a surgical strike at Shop N’ Save, as I also needed shampoo (ran out a couple days ago) and ginger beer (just in case New Year’s Eve called for Moscow Mules). It’s right down the road from the coffee shop, saving me a trip to Wal-Mart or Target, which I try to avoid at all costs.
The lot was pretty full with folks picking up New Year’s provisions.
Walking in to the vestibule with the shopping carts, I saw the gentleman from the Salvation Army tucked in the corner keeping his kettle. Delighted me to see he had his banjo with him. I see him often when I visit, though not always with his banjo. He plays softly, not too fast. Sounds like folk music to me, possibly songs from his native country, but I’m not sure. He and his kettle used to sit inside the store where it’s warm, but awhile ago he told me they don’t like him playing inside, so when he brings his banjo he sets up shop in the vestibule … where it’s not warm. The majority of folks coming in and out pass right by him.
The feeling I get seeing him with his banjo in the wintertime is the same one I get seeing lightning bugs in my back yard in the summertime.
Feels like a gift.
Since I never know where to look for my stuff, I walked through the main body of the store, past the deli and the prepared foods counter. Caught a conversation just as someone said, “I’m playing at the President’s Pub Sunday … from 11 to two.” I turned to see a local musician I recognized, a jazz guitarist, talking to a person in a wheel chair.
I kept on walking for a couple seconds … before turning back around.
Found the guitarist by the apples.
“Excuse me,” I said.
He looked up.
“Did I hear you say you’re playing at the President’s Pub on Sunday?”
Yeah, he said … confirming the time.
“Oh, wow,” I replied. “I didn’t know they had jazz there anymore.”
Yeah, he said. “They have music every Sunday. It’s not always jazz, though.”
It’s been years since I visited the President’s Pub on a Sunday morning.
Remember going there the Sunday after my Dad’s funeral, listening to jazz and spilling a couple glorious tears into an Old Fashioned … and buying one for the pianist who took my request for Stardust.
Not sure I’ve been back since.
I turned the corner past the bread just as two older ladies bumped into one another. They hadn’t seen each other in a while and fell into a big hug with their winter coats on. Asked each other if ‘everybody’ was all right and doing well. I didn’t have to know them to know how much they meant it.
As they wished each other Happy New Years, I went to walk around them, but an older guy with a shopping court was moving with purpose, so I paused to let him pass.
“No, go ahead,” he said.
He had right-of-way so I deferred.
“No … please,” he insisted.
It was a small thing, but I got the sense he was looking for a place to put some New Year’s Eve kindness, so I accepted his invitation.
I didn’t even make it to the envelope aisle before I saw a different version of the scene I’d just witnessed — two other ladies who hadn’t seen each other in a while. They actually ‘whooped’ when they recognized each other.
More winter coat hugs and Happy New Years.
And behind me, I again heard the music of the older man who let me pass inviting another stranger to go in front of him.
He and his cart were on a roll.
And as I took the scenic route to find my envelopes, shampoo and ginger beer, I thought of Kurt Vonnegut.
Who liked to tell the story of a time he went out for envelopes.
How his wife thought him foolish.
“Oh, she says well, you’re not a poor man,” Vonnegut said in a version of the story he told to PBS.
“You know, why don’t you go online and buy a hundred envelopes and put them in the closet? And so I pretend not to hear her. And go out to get an envelope because I’m going to have a hell of a good time in the process of buying one envelope.
“I meet a lot of people. And, see some great looking babies. And a fire engine goes by. And I give them the thumbs up. And ask a woman what kind of dog that is.
“And, of course, the computers will do us out of that. And, what the computer people don’t realize, or they don’t care, is we’re dancing animals. You know, we love to move around. And, we’re not supposed to dance at all anymore.”
After going through the self-check out, I did a quick inventory of the treasure I collected during my surgical strike …
… a serenade from a kettle keeper who would rather be cold … as long as it meant he could keep his fingers dancing …
… an older person out shopping for someplace to put his kindness …
… the joy of New Year’s Eve winter coat hugs between old acquaintances.
The Shop N’ Save’s usually good for reminding me of things I forget I need.
Though I didn’t see any babies, I had a helluva good time buying the envelope for my letter to my daughter.
On my way out I made sure to say thank you to the kettle keeper for playing me back out into the cold.
And as I tried to remember where I parked my car in the crowded lot, I was already thinking of Sunday …
… and whether the guitarist shopping for apples might know Stardust.
Letters for Maggie 