Friends & Family

My dad likes Friends. Hold on. I’m not really sure he likes Friends, he might just like Phoebe. He calls her his “sister”. I don’t really see the resemblance, myself. Or maybe that right there is the resemblance – the weird ability to connect dots that aren’t there and oblivious to the fact that you’ve connected dots that don’t exist? OK fine. My father’s sister could be Phoebe from Friends.

What’s weird is that I’ve never watched more than a couple of full episodes of Friends. I only vaguely know who the actors on the show were. I might not even know who all of them were, though if I saw them I’d recognize them. I like Courtney Cox. I don’t really like Jennifer Aniston. The guys – I have no idea. Not my thing.

So anyway, I was talking to my father one day on the phone and he started telling me about Phoebe and his idea that she could be his sister because they were so much alike and I was uh huhing because I didn’t get it and then he starts rambling about Smelly Cat. I probably rolled my eyes while I laughed at him.  I might not know Friends but I do know Smelly Cat.

All of this discussion about my father and Phoebe and Smelly Cat happened years ago – he’s mentioned all three once or twice again over the years but that first discussion was the longest and it stuck with me. So that any time I see Lisa Kudrow, I think of my father. Any time I see the Smelly Cat video, I think of my father.  Whenever someone mentions Smelly Cat Coffee in Charlotte, I think of my father – though my father does not drink coffee.

As much as I love coffee – you’d think I’d have visited Smelly Cat, wouldn’t you? But no… I never have and I’ve always wanted to.

Several weeks ago, my mom called me from some bar in Charlotte where she was getting drunk with my cousin and my sister and she wanted to talk to me about Smelly Cat Coffee. I was annoyed. No I have not been there. Why are you calling me from a bar?! (I might be exaggerating about some of this – slightly – maybe – or maybe not, I wasn’t there so all I have is my mother’s word and… well she’s the one who tricked me into coming to Charlotte so I could deal with the Boo for her so…)

Anyway – I was grouchy again because I had never been to Smelly Cat and everyone else in the world has been. (I’m sure this is not an exaggeration at all and you can see where this is going, right…)

I went to Smelly Cat Coffee!!!!!

And it was a-freaking-mazing (notice I’m not cursing so much? Huh, wonder why?)

I drove over there on Saturday morning. There were just a couple of people there inside and a couple people outside. It’s the perfect rundown awesome kind of shop that I love. The baristas were friendly and interesting. The coffee was fan-freaking-tastic. I even bit the bullet and ordered a Cuban since it was on the menu and I LOVE me a good Cuban though it’s hard to get a good Cuban outside of the Miami area (or Cuba, I guess?)  — The Cuban – ex-freaking-ellent (oh, that didn’t work.)

I also ordered a cup of mini-brioche that was yummy and a regular old Sumatra that was just what a regular old Sumatra should be.

I took my order outside and promptly called my father to tell him that I was at Smelly Cat.

The man… did not know what in the hell (oops) I was talking about. It took me five minutes of explaining why I always think of him when I see/hear Smelly Cat.

Eventually – he got it and laughed for a long, long time.

Eventually.

Maybe Phoebe is his sister after all?

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