Change doesn’t have to suck, but often it does.  For a couple of years I’ve taken much pleasure in the routine.  I’ve never been much of a routine person but as I age I feel myself drawn to a little certainty in my daily life.  Simple pleasures that start my morning off right has become high on my list.  So for a couple of years you could find me in the morning leaning on the counter sipping a beverage at the local store.  We had many arguments that spanned everything from politics to religion to football.  Everyone had an opinion or at least a smart-assed comment.  Things were good.  It’s actually very nice to start off the morning with laughter and the latest conspiracy theory.  Our leader was the man behind the counter who had done a couple of tours in vietnam and believed wholeheartedly that the government was out to take away god, guns, gumdrops, and free will.  I must clarify something here.  The government he was speaking of was the one controlled by the party he didn’t support.  Evidently when the other party was in control the government was a wonderfully benign entity with only the best wishes for all.  I respect anyone with strong views on either side.  It makes for good discussion and leaves lots of room for well placed insults and really smart mouthed replies.
A lively argument over foreign policy and the role of government with a sausage biscuit in one hand and a cold pepsi in the other with friends standing around just thinking and waiting for their window of opportunity to deliver the perfectly worded jibe is the best way to send one off to work.  This was great.  I almost never left without a smile on my face and a sense of anticipation about the next mornings rap session.  I even went so far as to film one of our sessions.  There’s been seldom a time when I laughed as much as when I played the tape at home later that day.  I still have the tape and may put it one the website some day.
All things must come to an end.  This did.  Abruptly.  Our leader quit upon new ownership and the new owner is a business only guy.  He doesn’t seem to understand how these small communities work.  Specifically, if you do something that offends one of us, you offend all of us.  The store looks better.  It has more and better stuff.  unfortunately it lacks everything that made it special.  It’s no fun.  It’s not business as usual, it’s just business.  It is definitely the lesser of the two by a long way.