This was a great read after being in our home during the winter weather that still has schools closed. We missed our people this week. Here in the downtown Dallas many of us have smaller homes and third places are often the gather places.
For my entire childhood my Dad started his day at the 600 Cafe. He and his buddies met there, usually before the sun came up, to have breakfast and coffee and talk about the latest cow sale, commodity prices, THE WEATHER, and all the things ranchers in Eastern Montana talk about. One of my childhood friends now runs it (her parents have owned it my whole life and I think she might now). I live 1500 miles away, but the 600 still feels like home when I go back to my hometown.
When we went on vacations, my Dad had a gift for finding that town's 600 Cafe and would get the beat on the local goings on. He found my favorite cafe in Helena (where I went to college) on our first visit.
I've never found anything quite like that here in Texas, probably because I live too close to Fort Worth and not in a neighborhood.
Oh, I miss this kind of stuff from my hometown. We had a gas station called People Pleaser, owned by the parents of a girl in my grade, and it was THE place to be in the mornings and afternoons. It was on the corner right before you turned down towards the middle/high schools, so my mom or dad would stop in on their way all the time and buy us breakfast biscuits (small-town gas stations have the best ones!). I always saw at least three people I knew there pumping gas and would hurry there after school to grab snacks before band practice. It's still there, but it has different owners now and I have no idea what the culture is anymore. I hope it's as good as it ever was.
It's stories like this that make me wish we lived "in town". Though I also love my tree-filled acreage and chickens and dirt road.
That’s lovely, too, in its own way!
This was a great read after being in our home during the winter weather that still has schools closed. We missed our people this week. Here in the downtown Dallas many of us have smaller homes and third places are often the gather places.
For my entire childhood my Dad started his day at the 600 Cafe. He and his buddies met there, usually before the sun came up, to have breakfast and coffee and talk about the latest cow sale, commodity prices, THE WEATHER, and all the things ranchers in Eastern Montana talk about. One of my childhood friends now runs it (her parents have owned it my whole life and I think she might now). I live 1500 miles away, but the 600 still feels like home when I go back to my hometown.
When we went on vacations, my Dad had a gift for finding that town's 600 Cafe and would get the beat on the local goings on. He found my favorite cafe in Helena (where I went to college) on our first visit.
I've never found anything quite like that here in Texas, probably because I live too close to Fort Worth and not in a neighborhood.
What a beautiful tribute to your dad and his gift for finding what matters in a place! I love hearing this.
Oh, I miss this kind of stuff from my hometown. We had a gas station called People Pleaser, owned by the parents of a girl in my grade, and it was THE place to be in the mornings and afternoons. It was on the corner right before you turned down towards the middle/high schools, so my mom or dad would stop in on their way all the time and buy us breakfast biscuits (small-town gas stations have the best ones!). I always saw at least three people I knew there pumping gas and would hurry there after school to grab snacks before band practice. It's still there, but it has different owners now and I have no idea what the culture is anymore. I hope it's as good as it ever was.
I love that this is a gas station! So fun.