This is our family's pet name for the Starbucks symbol.
Why? You ask. It is a very good question and one for which I would love to share the answer.
Forget for a moment the fact that Starbucks sells overpriced coffee and tea drinks, and consider if you will the intangibles they offer. The fact of the matter is that no matter how I am feeling, if I go to Starbucks, I come out with a smile. The barristas are always friendly and the surroundings clean and cozy. And when you stop for your favorite drink, for the most part, you know exactly what you are going to get!
But...And this is a big but...not only is my local Starbucks a place which makes me feel at home and welcomed, every Starbucks I have ever been in makes me feel at home and welcomed. I have visited Starbucks from California to Massachusetts, Michigan to Oklahoma, South Dakota to Texas. And in each of these places I emerged with a contented smile on my face and in my heart.
When I moved from the west coast of California to Upstate New York three years ago, Starbucks was like an old friend, something familiar, a clean, well-lighted place to which I could flock to find respite from my loneliness. When we were traveling across the country this summer, I could see a Starbucks sign and feel like I had found a little bit of home offering a balm to my weary soul.
And so, that friendly little, two-tailed green mermaid is, for us, lovingly known as the "International Sign of Smiles." I am thankful that a thing so simple can make me feel so warm and content inside.
On a side note...I am even more thankful that Judy does NOT have strep throat. She's had a sore throat for four days and after getting a strep test today, we found out she is strep free...this may not seem like such a big thing to most of you...but she has battled with strep for years and as a result had her tonsils removed in June. When she said she had a sore throat today, I got that familiar twist in the pit of my stomach. I am so thankful that it is just a run of the mill sore throat!
