Four participants from our weekly breakfast club at Einstein’s (the bagel place, the arcade closed years ago) said their official goodbye today. Tarl accepted a position this month with Global Foundries which will take them to New York state. It’s a move they were looking forward to. Melia and Tarl used to live in the area when they attended RPI; it’s the less famous version of MIT yet its graduates have given us the Ferris Wheel, the Brooklyn Bridge, modern TVs before flat screens, numerous semi-conductor companies and NHL player-for-hire Adam Oates.
Our initial meeting was a bit clumsy so they were brave people to stick around and be friends with me. Years ago, they were occasional customers I’d see at Kenny’s on Sundays. (I hope I got their orders right.) One morning Melia asked for a decaf drink. I asked if she was pregnant. She chuckled and replied, no. My stomach sank, great, I just insulted a customer like a dumbass. (Melia continued to rib me over the incident too.) Here’s my reason why though. When I used to work at the movie theater and Kenny’s, pregnant women tended to insist on decaffeinated drinks. This makes more sense with a coffee shop during the morning rush because people want a drink to give them a boost on getting their day started. It’s the same understood logic with non-alcoholic beer.
Although I didn’t get to know Tarl, Melia and Ryanne (Corin was an infant) super well, I recognized them, tried to get some face time (to me, it’s the intangibles which make a coffee shop or bar successful) and strived to make sure their visits were pleasant. I learned some basics about them: what they preferred, they spent a year in Japan (same area as Doc, Isahaya!), they lived nearby, etc.
After my falling out at the shop, I lost touch with them along with dozens of others. It was a huge bummer. Regardless, if I ran into any former patron, I always endorsed Kenny’s (still do, he does great catering) and said many other fantastic people work there, I’m confident they’ll give you even better service than me. Seems something soured for the Simmons family as well because Audrey organized a new Sunday gathering at Einstein’s along I-35 and Parmer around late 2007 or early 2008. It was nice to participate as a member in the weekly roundtable. Being everybody’s barista/waiter was awesome yet you can’t exactly socialize the whole time…if you have a conscience about being on someone else’s dime.
Within several weeks, we all spotted the Gordons in queue for bagels. We invited them to join us and soon they became regular participants in what is labeled as “Breakfast w/ the Regulars” on my iCal. (I need to change it to something less robotic or SNL-esque.) So many conversations about movies, video games, computers, memories, Phoenix, NYC, college, etc. Seeing Ryanne and Corin grow and ask them questions was something I constantly looked forward to every Sunday. The rather blunt honesty of kids can be funny, insightful and humbling. Those two contributed to reining in my anxiety over the years. How? Children don’t sugarcoat their opinions, especially with an adult they dislike. Our interactions were positive so they proved to me I wasn’t a horrible person (I wasn’t the evil twin as I’ve said in past stories). Believe me, the day Melia and Tarl told us how excited Corin and Ryanne were to come to breakfast in order to see us, I knew I had a breakthrough. They came in handy at the Yo Gabba Gabba! concert too…it’s kind of a no DINK zone for 90 minutes.
I am going to miss them immensely. To show it, I gave the kids their own pairs of Chucks as a goodbye present. Ryanne’s were silver; very girly, very stylish. They’ll fit in time. Corin’s were black on black.
Not all is lost or sad. There will be a fifth Gordon in the near future, I think before the year ends. Tarl and Melia are steady FB posters. I’ve been assured that the kids like to write letters/cards, not e-mails, maybe this will change as they grow older. The AHL has a nearby team, the Albany River Rats (affiliate of the New Jersey Devils), imagine the ultimate Calder Cup matchup…Stars versus River Rats, we got a place to crash for the away games!
Corin displaying his new shoes on Tarl's head. Who can translate the ASCII on his shirt?
Melia. Sorry, she's not wearing anything to translate or decode.
Ryanne, the biggest fan of my monkey imitation that I learned from Miracle on 34th Street. She also liked to sneak up on me every Sunday.