Happy Birthday, Open Door Coffee Company!

Five years.

Which, of course, simply cannot be. But--like many other things which apparently cannot be--it not only can be but is. It was just about five years ago that the coffee shop on the corner of Main and Clinton Streets here in Hudson opened its doors. A blessing of my life ...

For a number of years before they opened, I'd been sort of coffee-shop-hopping. Our long-time hangout--Saywell's Drug (which occupied the space next door to OD)--had closed in 2005. So ... I'd migrated to Coffee on Main, just down the block.

It closed.

So I went to Caribou—only a couple of blocks from our house. Did so for a few years.

It closed.

So I started walking each morning to Bruegger's Bagels--about a half-mile from our house.

But quit when Hattie's Cafe opened in the space now occupied by OD.

It closed.

Back to Bruegger's.

Then the Open Door Coffee Company arrived, and I've been there ever since. I love the place for all kinds of reasons ...

• They've integrated into the space a lot of the stuff from Saywell's (which, to be fair, Hattie's had also done): the soda fountain, some wall hangings, other things.
• They have great coffee.
• They bake their own goodies right on the site.
• The hiring is superb--just some of the greatest young people have worked/are working there.
• They attract some of the most interesting customers in town. The "early-morning" folks are great coffee-companions.
• They reserve a small table for me each morning.
• The owner (Deborah Pinnell) and her son (Nigel, a gifted musician) work there. I'm proud to know them both. They brew kindness and humor along with the coffee.
• I feel at home.

So ... I'm urging them to stay in business, right there, until Mr. G. Reaper arrives at my door in earnest. (He has been lightly knocking, then--at least for now--going away.)

Going there each morning--and, okay, for a while each afternoon--has become one of the great pleasures of my latter years.

So ... Happy Birthday, ODCC!

Link to their website.