There is a bar right by my house that I love to go to hang out. It’s one of those hole in the wall places that you would probably drive by a million times and you’d never even know it was there. This is my Cheers bar and although when I walk in they don’t shout out my name, their flash of a smile or nod of recognition is just the same.

This place isn’t like any other bar. It is unique in its style as well as in its brand. It serves no alcoholic beverages, instead it is all tea based products. That’s right, my favorite bar to frequent to is a tea bar. A vast difference from where I would want to hang out a year ago. It’s dimly lit inside and although there is one side of the place made up entirely of windows, they are covered by a one sided film that allows you to see out but not in. I love this little fact because I can watch what is going on outside as if I were watching t.v, whether it be a group of people outside smoking and mingling or just merely staring at the trees swaying in the breeze.

The bar for the most part is pretty quiet. I love to sit in the lounge area tucked away in my corner on one of their antiquated, yet comfortable couches, tribal masks hung for decoration dance far above my head. From here, when not in the company of my friends, I work on writing or maybe do a little reading. Today I people watch.

One of the things I absolutely love about this place is how all different types of people stroll in and out of this tiny establishment. Those you’ll mainly find here are modern day hippie kids. You know the type. The ones that listen to Sublime and  Slightly Stoopid, laid back in their youthful ways. Those that have no real prejudicial thought or agenda against others, their only true focus is on bettering themselves and those around them. Sprinkled among that crowd you’ll also find your gym rats, your business professionals, your serious video-gamers, your student working on an overdue paper. At this place you will find anyone and everyone and all of them are intermingling with one another.

As I take a sip my from usual tea, I can’t help but smile at the thought that we have all decided to be right here, at this moment, together. No matter how different of a life we may all lead, today we had the same thought and decided to visit this very bar to consume our signature drink. I look at these individuals around me and it amazes me how those that are so vastly different from one another, those who in the “real” world would probably never find a genuine commonality otherwise, have found a common thread not worth cutting. Even I, who is a self diagnosed extroverted introvert, has made friends with people I never once thought I would make real friends with. Not because of any other reason other than it’s hard for me to stir up conversation with complete strangers unless there is a solid reason to, unless I know that rejection is not an option left on the table. I have found comfort among all these now familiar faces. There is comfort in knowing who my “tea”tender is and how I don’t even have to see who is working behind the bar but by just listening to what is playing over the speakers will tell me. The familiar sound of pool balls being racked and then breaking in the next room, their game room, is always comforting. It’s a simple reminder of life, scattering its traces of enjoyment throughout this tiny bar.

Sometimes I daydream about how this bar will be the place in which I finally finish my book in. Even if it doesn’t happen here, the meaning of this place already holds enough weight to be a part of me, at least for a very long while. Who would have thought that a bar serving only tea would be, for me, much more enjoyable than any ol’ bar serving spirits?

This little tea bar is my getaway, my comfort, my safe haven.