Where North Meets South—Panera Bread in Trinity

It was forty-eight degrees in Trinity, Florida when I got up this morning. Brrr ... and how I love it! In order was a good cup of coffee with Baileys (non-alcoholic, of course) Hazelnut Creamer. I love that, too!

Last night I brought my warm blanket to bed with me and put it on the floor so I could reach for it just in case. I reached for it! This is my kind of weather. So why am I in Trinity, Florida? I don’t know … maybe because Phyl and Angie and Tracy are here. And, oh yes! Somehow I thought I might better follow my husband since he would miss me if I stayed in South Carolina. He loves it here. But as for me, I’ve been cheated when I don’t get some icy cold weather between November and February. The Floridians look at me really weird when I say that. But, hey! They look at me weird when I talk!

Well, I’m from the South and you don’t have to be around me two minutes before you know that. It’s just in me, and I’m as proud of that as I am the Confederate Flag!  About that Confederate battle flag—I’m not talking about the “Rebel Flag” although there really is no difference in the way they look—I think the people I rub shoulders with at Panera Bread, where I write and edit three hours every morning of my life, are beginning to love that old flag. Especially when it’s on the cover of a beautiful book written by their friend and fellow coffee drinker! They like it when I sign that book off to them. They come back telling me how they cried when they read it, and that makes me feel like the whole Florida thing has been worthwhile.  I love signing my book right from my seat at Panera Bread in Trinity.

That and some tunes and a fine cup of hazelnut coffee make me happy. When I got home today, I sent out a note to my new friend, Christa. Don't you love her name! She lives in Memphis. I met her at Panera. Imagine that. We were both sitting outside and she saw my book whose cover struck a happy cord with her. Christa is a native Mississippian. From Starkville. You know… “Go Dawgs”! Well, we hit it off that day. I was writing her to say her book is on the way. All signed up, of course.

But wait… that’s not all. E-mail pops up from another new Panera friend, Mary Jane. She wants to meet me. Yes, at Panera, to pick up a book which she will read first and then give to her granddaughter, who has just signed on with the Marine Corps, when she comes out of boot camp.

This has happened to me a lot lately. I’ve had my own private book signings at Panera without even scheduling! Thanks Gert and Margaret and Jim and Dominick and Karen and Christa and Mary Jane and Reggie and Tim. Oh, yes! Thank you, Angie, for getting yet another MS Boys for someone. You've done it so many times before.

My son recently wrote a post about favorite things. Amongst those I call my own would be a warm blanket and a good cup of coffee with a piece of carrot cake and a favorite chair and a good book, maybe even one that I wrote myself!

Coming soon ... hopefully, prayerfully ...  
Isaac's House, A Post Civil War Novel 
by Jane Bennett Gaddy!