Drawn in by its peaceful, high energy, I floated into the lemon yellow and white, sunshine-filled marshmallow that is the La La Land Kind Cafe.
Inside, I was captivated. Not only by the scent of coffee and cardamom and the music that moves even the gloomiest of faces, I was also uplifted up by the staff, the clean design, other patrons and by the cheeky merchandise. Coffee mugs say things like “Be the person your dog thinks you are,” and trucker-style ball caps remind you to “Be f***in kind.”
Even though I entered out of curiosity, now I found myself scanning the QR code. I perused the menu and decided on an almond milk Buddha Latte for the aforementioned cardamom. As I waited in line to order, I noticed that everyone working was really present, efficient, engaged and relaxed. Their aprons, a shade of cocoa canvas, read “Kind Army.”
Something special was brewing. When it was my turn to order, I was greeted with a genuine smile and the feeling of easy kindness and patience. After the transaction was complete, the barista, Maya, said, not, “Have a good day,” not, “Your order will be right up.”
She said, “I love you.”
Stunned.
I smiled and looked her in the eye and said, “I love you, too.”
In this 2023 world of ours, this I love you when I least expected it stopped me in my tracks.
It wasn’t until after I left that I learned more about this space and its other branches. “We are La La Land Kind Cafe. A Cafe with a purpose of hiring and mentoring foster youth + normalizing kindness.”
Love wins.
But does it last?
Fast forward, days later, I was on a drive through LaLa Land traffic (as in Los Angeles, not the cafe wonderland above). My anxiety was a little on the high side that day, and I was not at my best. I should tell you: I’m a good driver. But even if you’re a good driver, you make mistakes that warrant a wave through your rear mirror and window to suggest, “Hey, sorry about that. My bad.” The other driver’s mood disturbed, you wave in hopes they give you some grace.
I made a right turn on a red light into traffic that was still a little distance from me but heading my way. I cut it closer than I should have. If I could do it over, I would have just waited. But there was no going back, so I stepped on it to mitigate the degree to which the vehicle behind me would have to slow down. I did the conciliatory wave, but the man in the giant pickup truck on my tail wasn’t in a state of grace.
In my rear view mirror, I could see the man like a wise guy, slicing air with his meaty palm, and I could imagine the words that accompanied the gesture. The light ahead turned red, and he pulled up alongside me. My window was mostly up, but I could hear that he was in the middle of a public service announcement, and I was the audience:
“You need to learn how to drive!” His face in a twist of anger, the man was shouting at me from his driver's seat out through his partially opened passenger window. “Take some driving lessons!”
I rolled down my window further. My heart was pounding. My face was expressionless, but inside me, an inferno. Normally, I would say nothing. I would close my window and pray for this ugly moment to end.
But not today.
I took a breath and looked right at him.
I have no idea where on earth it came from, but all of a sudden, La La Land came to mind.
“If no one told you yet today, I love you,” I said.
I was not smiling, but I said it with sincerity. (I don’t even have a dog, so I wasn’t performing for my pup as the cafe mug suggested.)
The man couldn’t make out what I said, so he rolled his passenger window down all the way and stretched his neck to the east.
“What?” the man grimaced.
“I said, ‘If no one told you yet today, I love you.'”
The man stammered and looked as stunned as I’d felt at the cafe.
“Uh. Well. Ok. But. You still need to take some driving lessons!”
I’m not an angel. And I’m not a hypocrite. So I need to tell you that “I love you” was not at all what I was wanting to say in that moment.
But, somehow that one sentence, from just days before, was emblazoned on my heart. And in that moment, my heart showed how it could overpower the mind.
Maya changed my heart.
And thanks to her, I have to wonder if the man had a change of heart too.