The unexpected day and the unexpected guest

Have you ever been in a situation that you stop and think: how in this world I ended up here? I’ve had a couple. Let me tell you the most recent one. I live in North Texas, to be more precise about 25 min West of Fort Worth. A few weeks ago, in the middle of the winter we had a 75o F day and I thought I needed to take advantage of such nice sunny day in the middle of the Winter. That was a perfect Saturday.

During that week I had been checking out Instagram and specifically was searching for a new coffee shop that just opened in Fort Worth Downtown and a friend of mine is working at. He told me good things about this place look and industrial design, which is a style that I like, and also that the owner is Brazilian.

I found the hashtag #sonsoflibertycoffee and saw a couple of pics of the place but one especially caught my attention.

This is how I found out about Head Way Design and that they made some of pieces for the shop’s decor. so, I kept checking their Instagram and noticed that the location of their shop in one the posts was in Peaster, which is not far from where I live.

“Why don’t I go check this shop out?”

On Friday night I was chatting with the person behind Head Way and we kinda scheduled it for Saturday mid afternoon.

Saturday was as beautiful as predicted. So, I called my friend and asked if I could ride his bike, a classy 1981 Harley nicknamed by me as The Beast. Got it and this would be a close to 30 min ride heading to Poolville actually. Just a little further North of Peaster.

There I was enjoying the breeze, the sun the noise, the view. Almost getting to the place, reducing the speed I noticed a bar in the middle of nowhere. Literally. And I thought: “Wow! How come can such a nice bar be here in the middle of nowhere. Who would come here?”.

I kept going down the road and two properties later, there I was at Head Way shop. I met Conan, the guy behind it, and after checking out the place and asking lots of questions to him (I think I scared him with my too many questions), I hopped on the bike and started making my way back home.

But I was thirsty and slowly riding in front of the bar I wondered if it was open, since I saw the sign blinking and the TV. However, I did not see anybody around.

This place has a big porch, a big deck around and under trees, a smoker, but no people. So, I decided to turn and go back since I was really thirsty. Stopped the bike, went up the stairs, passed by the soda machine, the TV that was on, the bar counter, the tables, and still could not see anybody around.

So I kept slowly walking around and looking for somebody when I saw through the window a couple preparing a huge guacamole dish. Huge. I waved, but they still did not see me. So I walked to the door and knocked.

“How can I help you?”

“Oh, I am just looking for something to drink. I was riding around and the bar and decided to stop for a beer”.

“Well, this is not a bar… it is actually our house”.

This is the moment that I wanted a hole in the ground to appear so that I could jump and hide myself in. What a shame. I started laughing, not because I thought it was funny, but because I was completely nervous and ashamed.

“I am sorry… I am so sorry… But I got to tell… You have a great place here… you have the whole apparel for your bar… uh… no… it is not… a… bar… what am I saying here?”.

“ Well, this is not a bar, but we have beer! Come on in!”

For the next 10 seconds I was wondering what would more embarrassing. The last five minutes, or the next ones, right after my 10 second deep thoughts?

10 seconds later, there was me in this family kitchen prepping guacamole for the Superbowl that would take place the next day, drinking my Shiner Bock.

We talked about work life, Texas, how to fix soda machines, having a porch-bar at home that really looks like a real bar, the new huge smoker he would soon have there (I guess Conan’s cousin was fabricating it), and the party (that, of course, my family and I were invited to join) happening in the next day.