It's strange holding space in your heart for someone who knew you all your life alongside someone you met for no more than an hour, on a random day, 10 years ago, through sheer circumstance.

And I'll never forget that he paid me such a kind compliment when I least expected it. And that despite the news, he and the doctor found a way to make us all laugh through the tears at his last requests. It's been 10 years. He would've been grown up by now. I wonder often how his family is doing.

I find myself thinking of another loss, someone I only met once. A kind boy, B., who passed from cancer. I was there to deliver the news to his parents in their language. And this boy had so much life in his gorgeous eyes, even though his body was destroyed by the cancer treatments.

Her house is gone. Her birthday phone calls gone longer. And I'll never again be able to listen to the stories of her life and spend that time with her.

But we were there, together with her when she passed. She probably hated it and appreciated it simultaneously. She never wanted to be a bother.

I definitely only learned to do this about 2 years ago when my eyes screamed at me in pain 🤣

Okay. Just SPECIFICALLY the album Artist in the Ambulance. If you haven't heard the whole thing, I'd recommend that and taking particular interest in the lyrics.

But alas. That dream requires monetary investment upfront and consistent regulars, as well as paid things to keep doors open for the free things to be offered.

I just wish there was a calm night-life option here as a third space.

After reading several reddit posts, articles and analyses on why third spaces are disappearing, my brain decided the best solution was to open up an overnight coffee bar/lounge w/ spaces for people to vibe, meet & have activities to interact. It would be a dream to then open other locations...

In a place like the metro where I live, it is nigh impossible to easily get to a third space in time after a 9-5, that doesn't close by 10 (if you're lucky). And evening shift people have it even worse because nothing is open when they're free.

I was thinking about that this weekend and it occurred to me that not every large city has as many, free third spaces as they probably should. So I went down the rabbit hole of whether any exist where I live and they all essentially disappeared with the panini.