If We Were Meeting For Coffee Right Now
Although I seem to have missed a few of the Wordpress Blogging University “Every Day Inspiration” prompts over the last few days, I am doing them as and when I can. Yes, there is an OCD part of my brain screaming “BUT YOU MISSED SOME!” – I’m trying to ignore it (if you see a rash of posts from me later today, at least you’ll know what happened).
So – today I’m supposed to answer the question “if we were meeting for coffee right now…” – I’m supposed to finish the sentence. I wonder where this will go?
If we were meeting for coffee right now, I would let you know which coffee shop, and try to arrive first. I know how hard it is to sit and wait for somebody – particularly if you’ve never met them before. As you approach I would smile, and get up to either shake your hand or give you a hug. Not a huge bear hug. I’m not entirely sure how the decision gets made between the two. I think perhaps a guy would get a handshake, and a girl would get a hug? I’m not sure. I’ve never understood why people do air kisses.
I would go get your drink, and probably talk you into getting something to eat too. Something small – maybe a cookie – mostly because I want something to eat, and if I’m getting you something, I can have something too.
I am an expert at talking to anybody about anything, if needed. This is of course a cover for being shy. A front. I may even get caught taking all sorts of interest in you, purely to get you to talk instead of me. It’s not that I’m not really interested in you – of course I will be – it’s more that I like to hear people’s stories too. Everybody has a story, and the world seems to be filled with mansplaining idiots who are only interested in their own story – I’m not one of those people.
It’s probably worth warning you that I’m an expert fence-sitter too. If you agree or disagree with something, I might cause you to consider other points of view – this drives some people to distraction. On more than one occasion during gatherings of friends I have started conversations that turned into raging debates. A friend once realised what I did, pulled me aside, and congratulated me on the argument I started. I smiled.
If conversation falls flat, I will change tactics, and collude with you as we watch people going about their daily life – imagining where they are from, where they are going, and what they might be like. I will most probably say something outrageous, purely to cause a reaction. You will struggle not to spit your drink out, and elbow me in the ribs.
When we say our goodbyes, we will promise to meet up again soon, because we don’t do enough of “this kind of thing”. We won’t organise it though, because we are both rubbish at organising things. We will message each other from time to time though – through whichever mobile app we both have, to while away the quiet moments of the day when we should be doing something else.