Visit Every City

August 6th, 2023

Lena and I have lived in New York City for more than five years now. As it typically goes, people who live in places that tourists usually visit, we haven’t visited every part of the city yet. Nor have we eaten at every single recommended eatery even in our own neighborhood. In the past (before I was a pastor) we visited the city having no idea we would one day be living in it. There was one visit when we came with friends and walked nearly where we wanted to go. By the end of that cold February trip we had practically worn through our tennis shoes. Ever since then, when we have visitors, we treat them to a similar experience, venturing into Manhattan from south Brooklyn on the subway and proceeding to walk all over the place.

There have been some years when we’ve had visitor after visitor, each wanting to see as many elements of the city as possible. Others had very specific ideas about what their visit should look like. A few years ago we had the pleasure of hosting Nick and Megan Lamoureux. I don’t recall exactly what, if any, tourist-type activities happened during their visit. Maybe a visit to a restaurant and then some quality time together. It was a very short visit. When Lena and I arrived home this past Sabbath from Connecticut, we had Nick with us. As I write this, Nick is enjoying some sleep as we pass over central Africa on our way from Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He is accompanying me on a senior pastor visit to Malawi and Zimbabwe. By the time we got home from Connecticut we would only have about 24 hours prepare for our trip. Would it be enough to really tour much of anything in the city? Would Nick again only hear about places he might have wanted to see?

There are countless movies and television shows that take place in NYC. I recall seeing people in some of the movies or shows I’ve seen walking around holding a small blue and white paper coffee cup. I assumed it was coffee and I assumed every cup of coffee anyone bought in the city would come in one of those cups. And yet I have rarely even seen them in person. I had never had the pleasure of using one myself until Sunday morning. After a late night of packing, Nick and I took Lena to an appointment in Bay Ridge. One of the quintessential NYC (and American in general) experiences is eating breakfast at a diner. I have fond memories of heading back home from an early morning fishing trip with my dad, stopping at a diner for breakfast. I sometimes reminisce about late night chats with friends at a diner after leaving a concert, drinking cup after cup of the mediocre diner coffee, completely ignoring the fact that I would have to be up the next morning to attend my college classes. I also remember making a pit-stop, sitting down at a diner for breakfast with family as we headed cross-country toward the Feast of Tabernacles. I now also have memories of sitting down with brethren, sharing a meal and catching up on life, at a couple of different NYC diners.

As it turns out, Nick also enjoys a nice meal and bottomless coffee at a good diner. The plan was set. While Lena was at her appointment, we would find a diner in Bay Ridge where we could sit and chat and relax before having to rush off to a different part of the world. As we sat at the counter sipping another cup after finishing breakfast, I saw our waiter walk by with a very distinctive blue and white cup which I assumed was filled with hot coffee. I told Nick of my lifelong dream of holding one of those cups in my hand and drinking coffee from it somewhere on the streets of the city. I devised a plan. I asked the waiter for a cup of coffee to go. He smiled, walked down to the other end counter, poured dinner coffee from a carafe, and came back with a very generic brown paper cup, the likes of which I had seen thousands of times. I knew there had to be more of the blue cups. I motioned for the waiter and told him of my lifeline endeavor. Only slightly puzzled, he obliged and again walked down to the other end of the counter. He came back with a brown cup and … a blue and white cup! There was at least one blue and white cup left in stock. Happily I confirmed that was the cup I was looking for, although this one was a larger size than I had seen in the movies. I didn’t care about the size and I didn’t really need any more coffee (before we left the house I had brewed a very strong pot of coffee which we only drank a small portion of). This might have been my one chance for the cup. I was not disappointed.

A few moments later I received a message from Lena. She was going to walk over to the diner from her appointment so we could head home. With the rest of the day we managed to squeeze in a visit to one of our brethren in New Jersey, packing and repacking some essential items, looking for a coat for Nick, eating an afternoon meal, and playing a quick game of Monopoly. When the time came, Lena (and Lola) drove Nick and me to the airport where we cleared security with minimal trouble and climbed aboard a jet headed for the African continent.

– Lewis VanAusdle

PS – Nick and I made it safely to Ethiopia where we spent the night. I slightly overslept but we were completely on time for breakfast, the shuttle to the airport, and our flight. I even had the chance to purchase some Ethiopian coffee to take with me as well as a very delicious macchiato to sip on while waiting to board the bus to the plane. What a morning!