This Thanksgiving I took a super-quick trip to Boise. I was in the city for about 48 hours so I had to cram as much family time/Boise in as possible. I only saw a couple of friends, and we made sure to go to our “place”—my favorite coffeeshop on the face of this planet. The Flying M not only makes a mean latte, but has mastered the creation of my ideal coffeeshop atmosphere. The mismatched chairs and tables are worn with love, and one L-shaped sofa is always cozily occupied, even during the many cold Boise months that may invite a draft where the couch sits by the door.
The best part about the Flying M is that, no matter what you want to do, and no matter how crowded the coffeeshop is, you can do it and no one will look sideways at you. You can chat with friends for hours on end, your raucous conversation getting louder and louder as you all get more caffeinated. You can sit quietly in a nook with your laptop or a book and wile away an afternoon. You can bring your kids in for a delicious post-Church pastry on a Sunday. All of these things can happen at the same time and no one will question it.
I own three Flying M t-shirts from the adorable gift shop that takes up a third of the coffeeshop, (that’s right—there’s a gift shop too!) and I often get asked about them outside of Boise. ((Yes, it may be a little ridiculous that I own three, but they are all totally different from one another and once you’ve slipped into a shirt that soft and cozy it’s hard to live with just one. )) Whenever I get asked about it, I just say that it’s my favorite coffeeshop, but it really means much more to me than that.
One reason I consciously chose to leave Boise was that, being an “artistic soul” in one of the most Conservative states in this country, I didn’t feel free to express my opinions in most places. I also went to 12 years of Catholic school, and that in its nature does not encourage thinking outside of the box, in many ways. There is something so unapologetically genuine and beautiful and intrinsically good about Idahoans, but many Idahoans seem to think that there is only one way to live your life. For some reason, the Flying M represents to me a little place where very different ideas can cohabitate without coming into conflict.
Over Thanksgiving I saw one of my friends in the morning, and we were seated next to a nice old couple. The man was a classic Idahoan with calloused hands and a bright orange trucker hat, and he joked with us jovially as we settled in to the table next to them. We were charmed. I saw my other friend in the evening, and a group of young gay men came in to hand out free condoms creating awareness for World AIDS Day. We were charmed. And both in the morning and evening every seat in the place was occupied by someone as different as their neighbor. I don’t know any other place in Idaho that hosts a Pride night once a week, providing a safe warm place for young GLBTQ people to socialize, and that also hosts highly traditional Christian families for cookies and board games on a Sunday afternoon. I’m not sure I know of another place in the world like that, and that special home-y feeling has welcomed me back to Boise every time I’ve returned home since I left four and half years ago. (Note: I have a personal rule to always have a receipt from the Flying M living in my wallet.)
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