The cookie was a revelation!

Any person that knows me knows that one of my most favorite desserts in the world is chocolate chip cookies. I've even been known to have one of those great big cookies to replace a cake on my birthday. Who knew that I would enjoy the best chocolate chip cookie of my whole life at a Starbuck's in a Barnes & Noble cafe in Denver this past Sunday evening. Somehow you just don't expect anything so amazing to happen at such a mundane place like Starbucks. I wouldn't even have gotten the cookie if my girlfriend Anita hadn't decided to indulge that evening. So, I bit into it expecting it to be just like any other chocolate chip cookie (let's face it chocolate chip cookies can be a bit mundane themselves). I was not even paying attention as I bit into it, but when I started savoring the cookie, I stopped, pounded the table and exclaimed "this is the best cookie I have ever eaten." It was right out of the oven, soft and rich. This was no ordinary Starbuck's cookie! It was a revelation! I just kept saying over and over again "this is the best cookie I have ever eaten!"

As I finished my half of the cookie, I decidedly got up ran to the register to get another one praying that my future cookie's warmness had not died down. My frenzy only grew when this Frenchman was taking his time ordering cheesecake and asking for directions. Didn't he know that I had to get another shot at eating the best cookie in my life? Finally the barista's attention was on me, and I asked her if any more of those amazing cookies were left. She said yes, but not straight out of the oven like the one Anita had gotten mere minutes before. Wait a minute, what happened to the whole idea of making a tray of cookies? Do they only make them one at a time there? She said if I was staying around for about a half hour she could make me another one. "Yes, Yes," I replied.

So I waited, looking forward to recreating that moment when I first bit into the cookie. I went and looked at books, and the minutes dragged on. After a long search for books on saints, I arrived to find my cookie there on a plate still warm but considerably cooled off. I bit into it. Defeatedly, I hung my head saying "this is not as good as the first." It was good but not "that" good. The first cookie had been a revelation. You can't recreate the perfect cookie or the perfect moment or the perfect cup of coffee so you have to appreciate them and relish them when they happen. A Latin phrase comes to mind "Carpe Diem" or Seize the Day! In my case, Carpe Cookie. Thanks Starbuck's for reminding me of that.

Back to Basics

The summer of 2010 is finally here. Leading up to this point, I have felt a range of feelings from dread to excitement. You see, my life has changed dramatically within this last week. I resigned from my job, I moved out of my sweet house in the Coronado district, I put all my stuff in storage and now I am in Denver in my first live in relationship with my girlfriend, and soon I will be living in Casa Grande (previously referred to as the "armpit of Arizona") Plus, I will be starting grad school at ASU in late August. When change comes it leaves nothing untouched. Although, I feel like my life is swirling in a tornado somewhere waiting to land, scattered, with me left to pick up the pieces and put them back together, I am excited about the idea of getting back to basics.

With everything sort of in wait right now, it gives me the opportunity to look at the world differently. I don't have the comforts of home, so I have to look for new comforts in a different environment. I'm seeing the world again on foot, because I don't have a car. You really get to know your environment and appreciate it when you are on foot. For example, the local Albertsons is only 15 minutes away on foot and there's a Chipotle that's about 10 minutes away. (I can't live without burritos and pico, I am a Phoenician you know ;) You really learn to check the weather, you learn which streets don't have sidewalks, you learn which dogs are friendly in the neighborhood and which dogs are not. You learn how to pack your backpack with groceries to take back to the cave. You don't really learn or notice these things in a car. It's really empowering to use your own two legs to get somewhere. I guess I forgot this when I bought my first car.

Before I left for Denver, a friend of mine asked me "what sorts of things make you happy?" Luckily, those things haven't changed: music, food, writing, community, church, my friends. I just have to learn where to find them in this new place. I am trying to understand this concept when everything seems to be changing in my life, it's time to get back to basics. Seek out the things that you love. Those things will always be home.