Carmen on the other side of the drive-through window, then back inside

This morning, I stepped inside Metro Cafe and there was Carmen, on the outside, at the drivethrough window looking in from where I most often am. She was just coming to work and had handed various things through the window to Shoshana so she would not have to carry them inside.

They are laughing because the Volvo has a few problems and Carmen has thought about trading it in a new car, but she doesn't believe Scot wants her to. Scot like to fix old cars up and saw buying a new car as a frivilous expense.

Soon, she was inside. She sat down at the table where I was eating oatmeal. I will not try to recount the conversation, but it was all about Scot and their last days together, and about Branson, and how wild he is and how maybe she should wait until he is 40 to give him the Corvette his dad rebuilt and about how she, Shoshana and Nola are leaving for the Detroit Lakes country music concert, just over the border from Fargo, North Dakota in Minnesota.

It's a pretty long story, but the parents of her sister's husband, kids in their 70's, have been going since the concert began decades ago and have their own little place right up front. Originally, she, Scott and Branson were going to go to North Carolina, pick up the RV they had bought in Florida and then take one, last, big, cross country trip, which would include a visit to Detroit Lakes, and then they would come home for Scot to die. It didn't work out that way.

The concert is a big blow-out, she says. Lots of alcohol, drunk people and even a few naked women running around. Branson is staying home with his aunt. Carmen told me she keeps herself under control, but a lot of folks around her don't.

Maybe a good blowout is just what she needs right now. I'm not worried. Some people are alcoholics and should never drink, some aren't. Carmen isn't. Scot was, but with Carmen's help he fought it. I told that story on my old blog.

Then she showed me pictures on her phone from the final visit of herself and Branson with his father and her husband at his death bed. As sad as they were, the pictures were... beautiful.

She showed me a t-shirt with the Metro Cafe logo on it. It was for a run to raise funds for cancer treatment. Metro could not afford to donate the amounts of money organizers sought, so she let them come in on weekends for many hours at a time to plan and organize.

A couple who I did not know came in. It was the first time they had been here since Carmen returned from Mexico. She introduced us, but I quickly forgot their names. She showed them the shirt. They each gave her a hug. Lots of Carmen's customers give her hugs.

Comments

[Suji]

I am no customer but would still hug her...she is very bubbly!

[Michelle]

Love the photo of Carmen through the window.

Hoping she has a wonderful time at the music festival!

(Thanks for the post Bill!!!)

[Rocksee]

I met Carmen once when I stopped in.. She is the type of person you just WANT to hug. She was so nice.