Hillside Coffee House

March 11th, 2020 (4:30 AM)

In an hour I have to wake up a young woman to start her first day working as a barista at the Hillside Coffee House in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. I am almost certain that this young woman will wake up in a raspy mood, and that it will be a struggle to get her out the door and into my car. So be it. This needs to happen.

Karma is a strange thing. Westerners (especially some Christians) often look at the idea of karma with suspicion, like it is this sort of dark, esoteric notion that will seduce the unwary into error. Karma is really pretty simple:

“What goes around, comes around.”

I heard that comment years ago from Mark Manning, who was not obviously religious, and who was not, perhaps, very spiritual. However, Mark could be ruthlessly honest, and he was incredibly hard on himself. That I know. He understood karma. He lived it. He died it.

I have said that karma is really pretty simple. Like most things, that is almost true. The things that I do affect me, but they also affect others. My actions affect people I don’t even know, and people who are not even born. I bear a huge responsibilty in my actions. What I do (and what you do) can literally change the world.

Hillside Coffee opened yesterday. Did this change the world? Fuck yeah.

It really did change the world. You might laugh at that. Go ahead. I would too.

However, the existence of the Hillside Coffee House changes everything for me.

Karin and I can roll with whatever happens.

In a way it’s all a dream.

The coffee shop has a beautiful feel to it. The walls are painted in a way that makes a person comfortable. The furniture is old and unconnected, but somehow it all matches. There are living plants everywhere in the cafe. It all feels right, in a soulful way.

The young woman’s paintings cover one of the walls in the cafe. That changes things for me.

The owner, Rose, bakes her own imaginings. She has canoli cupcakes, among other things. This is Rose’s dream, and she is taking it to the limit.

God bless her for this. Creativity gone crazy.

Cool.