By Abe Villarreal
There is a lot to like about all the things we don't like anymore. The things that we are too rushed to appreciate, too busy to know they are still there. Too focused on too many things.
Like bumpy roads. I like them. Bumpy roads in the middle of nowhere and bumpy roads on side streets when you are trying to take shortcuts. Bumpy roads that make everyone in the car bump up and down. Or the bumpy roads that make you slow down to almost stopping. We all need some bumpy roads to break up the flatness of our lives.
People don't like drip coffee anymore. The kind of coffee that you prepare first thing as you enter the office. The kind that comes out of the old familiar Mr. Coffee pot. It's got a few tan-colored rings around the corner, but it's been faithful to you. The drip, drip, drip, and the little rumbling sound that you wait to hear to know it's time to get up for your first cup of the day. I like drip coffee.
I think people should go back to liking hand-scooped ice cream instead of the soft serve kind that has no personality. When you go to a hand-scooped ice cream place, you get to spend way too much time looking at all the buckets, wondering the taste of each flavor. Classic flavors are always there, and exotic new flavors, too. Some have nuts, some have names you can't pronounce. All are good.
I wish people would go back to going to the same places on the same day of the week. One of my favorite life memories is meeting with two older gentlemen at a diner called The Drifter, every Sunday before church. The three of us met at the breakfast bar stools in The Drifter, just by chance.
For many Sundays, we shared breakfast dishes, coffee, and great conversations. I learned a lot from them, and maybe they learned a little from me, too. Different generations, eating eggs and toast, and pondering on about yesterdays and tomorrows. We did that every Sunday until we didn't.
People don't like waiting anymore. I don't like it all the time too, but there is a lot of value in it. We don't have to wait for anything anymore. Online orders, fast food, quick-to-find answers to our questions. It's all there, except for what comes with waiting. The thinking, the observations, the quiet times, the talking with strangers, the things you see that you otherwise wouldn't have seen.
I wait in line a lot as I regularly make my way across the U.S./Mexico border. That waiting has been the biggest blessing of my life. I've made new friends who are now lifelong friends. The kind of friends that add something to your life no one else could. The long line, just sitting there, watching people, vendors making sales, reading murals on fences, seeing what life is like between two worlds, it's all worth the wait.
There's a lot to like about the things we don't like anymore.
Abe Villarreal writes about the traditions, people, and culture of America. He can be reached at
