I’m at a coffee shop on the corner of Humboldt and Chambers in Milwaukee. This particular shop is where they roast the coffee beans. The beans’ rain-stick shuffle ebbs below the machine’s resonant hum. This is the background music to the last two years of this blog, and the happiest years of my life. Selfishly, I’m glad they’re roasting coffee on Christmas Eve.

The most common face here is the Writer. He’s an older man with long, gray hair in a ponytail. He sits in his usual place, a half-booth in the corner by all the windows. He wears a heather gray t-shirt with long sleeves, weathered jeans, and a Casio digital watch. His moustache would be Zappa-esque if it weren’t white. He normally writes on an AlphaSmart word processor, the thin, flat kind with the little LCD screen. Today he has a notebook and pen. He pauses more often than usual, looking upwards to the dense wooden rafters.

I order my usual, a burrito and a coffee. My usual spot is the half-booth closest to the counter. The machines make it difficult to hear the baristas calling out orders, so this is an advantageous position for someone with bad hearing. But today, I can’t make up my mind. I set my things down near my usual spot, then over by a high-top where I can see out into the park across the street, then I finally settle in the same corner as the Writer.

I see why the Writer likes this spot. The morning sunlight washes out my laptop screen, but that wouldn’t be a problem for his word processor. It’s the only corner from which you can see the entire coffee shop. I can see the barista walk over to the counter with my order. They call my wife’s name. The rewards account has her name on it, and I don’t bother correcting the name on my orders anymore. Easier to be someone else for just a moment.

Another regular arrives as I return to my seat. I call him Tablet Guy. Tablet Guy is a shorter gentleman with thinning hair and what I assume is a wardrobe consisting exclusively of quarter-zips. His name comes from the small tablet in a thick rubber case that he sets at eye level using a folding stand. In half an hour’s time, his friend will sit down with him. Tablet Guy’s friend will greet him with a loud “There he is!” and then Tablet Guy will stand up, shake his friend’s hand, and then they’ll sit down and talk about business. Tablet Guy and his friend are like clockwork.

I wonder if Tablet Guy and the Writer call me “Laptop Guy.”

Three UWM liberal arts students sit at a table across from me. I know they’re liberal arts students because they wear ponytails and sweaters, and my grandfather’s glasses. One of them talks about his remaining requirements for graduation: three classes, all online and asynchronous. One of them is a 100-level LGBTQ studies class. The students chuckle.

I finish my breakfast. The busses are on a holiday schedule today, so I can’t take my usual way home. I walk a few blocks west, where I can take a different route headed north. This route takes me up Holton, a street that’s home to some of my favorite photo spots. It’s not the fanciest part of Milwaukee, or even the prettiest, but it’s familiar. I’m grateful I got to see it one more time.

Later today my wife and I will board an Amtrak with 3 weeks worth of clothes and a bag of Christmas gifts. We’ll spend some time with my folks in the Twin Cities, exchange Christmas gifts, then we’ll board a plane to San Jose, California. I’ve never been there before. Hell, I’ve never been to California before.

Why am I leaving? I took a new job. My wife and I talked about this at length. Our motivations are complicated, but it should suffice to say that it’s a private matter. I’ll miss Milwaukee, and I’ll miss my friends. I won’t have as much time to work on this blog, but in a few months’ time, I should be settled in again. The tinkering will continue after this brief intermission.