Jan 19 2007
What the hell is wrong with St. Louis?
I currently live in St. Louis county. I grew up in South City and I love that area - love it. But St. Louis City has a bit if a public-school issue and so we moved to the county for the quality of public education.
A fact about me that people seem to find interesting is that I’ve never really lived outside of a 10-mile radius from where I grew up. I grew up on Lisette (for the locals who read, that’s near Holly Hills) and then moved to the Bevo area (Itaska) and then a bit further down Gravois on Gertrude and then into Affton on Laclede Station. Now I’m in the Mehlville area. My parents no longer live on Lisette. After more than 40 years, they sold the house and moved to the ‘burbs. I miss that house and we all shed a tear or two when our lives moved forward and left it behind.
I like my town well enough. Truth is, I haven’t anything to compare it to - I’ve never lived anywhere else. Here just happens to be where my family is, parents, siblings, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, etc. So this is where I am and where I will remain. And I’ve warned my older girls that they better not dare to fall in love with people from Elsewhere because I don’t want them living Elsewhere or even taking my grandchildren from here to go visit Elsewhere over Christmas break.
Yesterday, my 4th daughter turned 5. FIVE!! That’s a big one. I took the day off because she and I were going to have a special day together, just the two of us. Ends up that yesterday was Pajama Day at school and Jadie didn’t want to miss it. So… instead of spending the whole day together, I let her go to school for a few hours in her bunny slippers and picked her up at 10:30 to begin our special day.
Do you people realize what this meant?
I had nearly three hours - THREE HOURS - of alone time. I wasn’t at home, I wasn’t at work. My husband was out of town, the children were nestled all snug in their schools and I was out in the world at large alone. By myself. For THREE hours!
I brought my book along (currently reading: Time Traveler’s Wife) and went in search of a Starbucks.
WTF, St. Louis? Why are there no Starbucks in South County? I swear, when I’m in London or New York, I can’t trip on the sidewalk without falling into a Starbucks and landing in such a way that I have to pry almond biscotti out of my nostril. But in South County - the only Starbucks is in the mall. The MALL!
Perhaps I should feel a bit of snobbish pride that my area hasn’t succumbed to the big chains. But no, I thought, as I looked around at our Olive Garden and Red Lobster and Stake-n-Shake and TGI Fridays and Outback Steakhouse and… and… and…
Perhaps I should feel insulted that the Starbucks people don’t think we’re sophisticated enough to know how to order a Venti Nonfat Cinnamon Vanilla Dulce Latte No-Whip Sugar-free or something. Well… well… well…. they’d be wrong. Right? We’re sophisticated. We’re high class. We’re happenin’. Right??? We know that Venti is the big one. We can afford to spend $4.59 on a cup of freaking coffee. We want crumbleberry cake! WHERE IS OUR STARBUCKS? I NEED BISCOTTI.
The traffic light turned green and I accelerated through the intersection and then turned right into the Waffle House. Ah, love me some Waffle House. When I told the waitress I’d like a Venti Nonfat Cinnamon Vanilla Dulce Latte No-Whip Sugar-free, she said “This ain’t no fancy place, alls we got is just plain coffee.” and then she poured me a cup. I read my book and sipped my plain coffee for a couple hours in pure bliss.
Perhaps Starbucks is right about us South County folks after all.
(Hey, don’t be dissing the Waffle House, now!)
