45 Minutes Can Make a Difference
One of my favorite movies is White Christmas. Yeah, it has the memorable songs, and the romance, and the dancing, but early in the film Danny Kaye tries to set up Bing Crosby on a blind date. Crosby’s character isn’t interested. He’s never interested. So why does Kaye persist? 45 minutes.
That moment to myself, that 45 minutes that Phil Davis so eagerly seeks, is something I’ve been looking for forever. Today, I realized that it’s not just about the time itself, but the people you spend it with. The world was off kilter for me today–I woke up from a 12 hour, dead sleep “nap” in time to get ready for work feeling quite unlike myself. I just felt… different. It’s difficult to explain, I suppose. If you’ve never woken up and felt like someone else, or not like yourself, let me assure you… It’s unsettling. So I went to lunch thinking that I could walk around and clear my head. Who knows, perhaps I could get some writing done. But it didn’t quite work out like that.
I never thought I’d ever find a place much like Tuscaloosa here in Pittsburgh. I miss Tuscaloosa. I miss the south. I miss the hospitality, the kindness, the attention to every person around you, the sun, and the sweet tea. Today I realized that those things are here in Pittsburgh, right in the Strip. Everyone knows you, everyone remembers what it is you buy, or what you order, or what kind of flowers you asked about last time you stopped by to decorate your desk. They ask your where you’ve been when you don’t stop in for a week, and they ask about your family. They remember your name and things about you. And they yell at you if you leave your food sitting too long while checking out dried fruits. “Dawn! What’re you doin’? You’re food’s gettin’ cold! Go eat!” These folks are genuine. Many of the stores are still family businesses, and the owners themselves are the ones welcoming you as you walk in the door. This may not surprise some of you, but I managed to miss out on this before I moved to Alabama. Maybe I had to move there to appreciate what was always here… I’m feeling a little like Dorothy waking up from her trip to Oz.
After making my regular rounds to Hermanowski’s, Sunseri’s, the secondhand bookstore, and the guy selling flowers in the Tent, I stopped into the 21st Street Cafe and got myself a large Mint Iced Tea. It was when I was sitting outside in the sun sipping that tea that I had a profound feeling of relief. And just as I watched Smallman transform from two lanes to six (complete with honking horns, loud music, and expletives not deleted), I had one of the very few epiphanies of my life.
I was home.
I was home, and I felt like I belonged here. I was content for the first time in my life in Pittsburgh. I’ve been back in the Burgh for 5 years, and it took those 45 minutes for me to realize that everything I missed so much about Tuscaloosa was here in Pittsburgh all along.
