Cosmic Lattes

I love vanilla lattes. (Vanilla chai lattes with nutmeg, if you’re buying) I haven’t had one in ages...

You know when you eat or drink something hot too fast? Yeah. I got burned. Real bad. From my beloved vanilla latte. Anticipating that fabulous first familiar sip- waiting for it, dreaming of it... instead! completely and unexpectedly scorched.

After the pain wore off- which took quite some time, I was left with this tasteless dissatisfaction. Eating became perfunctory. Spices became a grey ash- ginger, mint, cinnamon... indistinguishable to my palate. Nothing had a flavor.

Slowly, my taste buds started to heal. I started drinking chai frappes instead- a poor (though a cool and soothing) substitute and my prior fancy became a whimsical and very vague remembrance.

(I *will* get to the point... eventually;)

So yesterday I finally ‘went’ to check out the Tea Garden on Hennepin- somewhere I’ve been pretending I pretentiously hang out all the time. I decided to take a quick stroll there in the rain because Hennepin should only be one block away from Nicollet and I know that’s not too far.

About 2 miles later I discover that Hennepin veers away from Nicollet once you leave downtown and is actually *8* blocks further than I though. Oh, and did I mention it started to downpour? Yeah. It did. A strange teeny hispanic dude has been following me in his Compensator 2008 for most of the way, too. I think he’s convinced he met me at some dance club the night before... or I might have just made this up as I can’t speak spanish. Confusion, comprehension, slight panic, then flattery follow in this order.

I get to the address I’ve written down (which is now sodden and mostly unreadable) and I discover it’s. not. there. What? I stroll up and down the block for 15 minutes. I stop at an intersection and look up and down- hoping to see something I’ve missed when a bus drives by and hits Minneapolis’s biggest pothole. I do not possess a bucket big enough to hold the amount of water I was doused with- and neither do you.

People under awnings point and debate whether or not to laugh. I take one cowboy boot off and watch incredulously as the water *pours* out of it. ::wait for it. wait for it:: And then it starts- a deep bellylaugh that doubles me over and almost has me crying. I can’t stop. I just walked 3 miles in a hurricane to nowhere yet I can't stop laughing.

It’s then I realize, I can taste life again.

Tomorrow- you guessed it, I’m going to get up early, read the paper, and make some blueberry pancakes and a vanilla latte.

Yes, I’ll have to get up earlier.
Yes, it’ll cost me more.
And yes, I might even get burned again.

But... it’s worth it- it’s my *favorite*, you know?