Coffee With My Cousin

I’m visiting family in Toronto and would like to meet a cousin for coffee. I haven’t seen him for almost a year and look forward to an hour or two of conversation. The problem is that in my imagination we are sitting at a waterfront, outdoor cafe in Greece but it is winter in Toronto so it looks like I will have to compromise a bit.

Nevertheless, it should be a simple matter: do an Internet search for coffee shops near his home - pick one and hop on the streetcar. He lives only about 20 minutes away by foot, but this is December and I didn’t bring my polar expedition suit wiyh me from Greece and my son took the car to work. By streetcar it is a five minute walk, another five minute wait at the stop, three streetcar rides with accompanying waits at each stop and another five minute walk to his house. Total: 20 minutes. Too cold. Besides, I’m likely to pick up a virus riding on the street car. You see, I normally spend as much time as possible in warm climates so my immunity to winter bugs is as low as my tolerance for cold weather. But family is important and blood is thicker than the water of the Mediterranean. Or at least I hope so. Perhaps I can borrow a fur coat from my daughter in law...

So, to pick a place. My cousin’s choice would be the green cafe with organic coffee and wholesome granola cookies while sitting at large communal, wooden table, near his home, which to me means a cold and noisy place where we would need to line up for 15 minutes to pay and then have to serve ourselves from thermos bottles of lukewarm brown mud.

My choice is a macchiato with a to-die-for Tiramisu in a warm, quiet, library lounge of a downtown luxury hotel, that is a 10 minute streetcar ride from me and then a five minute walk underground where it is warm, but for him, this would mean supporting the rich, the enemy. It seems that we have grown apart.

And since this is my invitation, it would only be polite that I do most of the traveling.

Difficult situation. It would seem that I need to open my mind to an alternative way of being, brave the elements, join him in his favorite cafe and focus on the positives such as him being happy while I fight hypothermia every time the door opens.

After about an hour of online searching and reading all the reviews, frustrated, I walk over to the window, pull back the curtains and notice with dismay which slowly turns to joy that overnight it snowed about six inches.

Our coffee meeting was a huge success. We had a lovely conversation by video phone, each with a mug of homemade brew.

...ends

Date

Publisher

Editor

Result

Dec. 10

The Star

Weekend Editor: Alison Uncles

Phone: 416-869-4015

Email: auncles@thestar.ca