Mermaid Cafe

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Mermaid Cafe coffee makes me happy.  Now, you may be wondering if all coffee makes me happy.  But, alas, no, some coffee makes me mean and grumpy.  Nobody wants that.  Particularly my children.  My favorite coffee outside of Mermaid Cafe is hotel coffee.  When I was a counselor on Chicago's west side, we often had trainings at a chain hotel (it rhymes with champton bin).  They had the BEST coffee and that is when I first discovered my love of hotel coffee.

But I digress.  Mermaid Cafe opened somewhat recently in my neighborhood.  It is a fantastic place.  One of the things we like about it is that they have a cozy chair for Ellie to sit on.  Another thing we like about it is they have a play area with an etch-a-sketch near the cozy chair previously mentioned.   And they have super yummy chocolate muffins that are half chocolate half chocolate chip cheesecake (brilliant!).  As you can well imagine, we frequented Mermaid Cafe quite often this past summer.  It was a nice little walk (only a few blocks, when that was all Ellie was able to do) and highly comfortable for us.

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One day we were eating lunch at Mermaid Cafe.  Yes, I didn't want to send you over the edge, but they also offer yummy sandwiches (grilled cheese is Ben's favorite--he is afterall a Wisconsin boy) and delicious soup.  As you may or may not know, Ben and Ellie are really really good at throwing up.  I never ever worry that Ben is going to choke on anything b/c anything that gets stuck comes right on back up (he gets that from Thom).  It's practically a super power.  Well, as we were sitting enjoying our lunch, Ben started gagging on something he was eating.  We were sitting near the bathrooms (I know, why did we choose to sit near the bathrooms you may wonder, and now I am wondering also).  I thought that I could grab Ben and get him into the bathroom before he really blew.  But alas, as I tried to grab his body out of the chair, his legs got stuck in the back of the chair (he was sitting on his knees) and he was stuck good.  When he became unstuck, the chair flew to the ground making a very loud banging sound.  Ellie started screaming at all of this startling commotion.  As I was taking care of Ben in the bathroom, I was trying to prop the door open so that I could reassure Ellie that we were OK.  The owner, Lisa, came over and very calmly asked, "What can I do to help?"  She quickly assessed the situation.  She grabbed Ellie by the hand and said, "Why don't you come and help me?"  Which, had the effect of immediately calming Ellie down.  Ellie helped her clean up the table and I was able to help Ben finish his very important and messy business.  It was one of the most helpful things anyone did all of our crazy summer.  Typically, others just stare or gawk or glare or smile when we have our crazy moment, making me feel on stage displaying all of our naked crazy parts.   It may not seem polite to jump in and offer assistance, but when the woman at Mermaid Cafe offered assistance it was hugely helpful to me. 

[caption id="attachment_146" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Ellie, Ben & I"][/caption]

Recently, I went into to Mermaid Cafe for some morning muffins.  During my morning workout, the instructor had informed us to listen to our bodies, to which I responded, "My body says it wants MUFFINS!"  Yes, I said it out loud, it's harder to sensor myself at 6:30am.  Well, when I showed up at Mermaid Cafe to obtain the muffins my body desperately needed, the two workers there were discussing new aprons and how excited they were.  I thought this sounded exciting myself and told them so.  Instead of looking at me snidely as if I should mind my own business, they told me that I was just their kind of customer.  That's the thing when I come to  Mermaid Cafe, I do feel like the "right" kind of customer, I feel like I fit in, like I belong to a bigger community.  Now when we pass by Mermaid Cafe on our way to school, some of the people working there will wave hello to Ellie.  I am so thankful to have a coffee shop nearby where we can get yummy food and happy coffee and feel completely at comfortable even if crazy happens to slip out.