Happy Birthday To The Round House Cafe, What Would I do Without You

When we first moved to Cambridge, me and a few friends had a pop-up art show in the building where the Round House Cafe now is.  I remember meeting  Lisa, who now owns the cafe with her husband Scott, for the first time.    She was a part of the show.  Her art was the soup, bread and pastries that they made in their bakery.

The old bank where we had our art show was a coffee house for a while, but after it closed the building was empty for years.  As I tasted Lisa’s soup for the first time,  I dreamed of what it would be like if she and Scott opened their own cafe in the building.  What it would be like to have a place to go, just 5 minutes from home where we could get homemade bread and fresh muffins.   A place to meet my new friends Mandy and Athena, and grow our friendship over a lunch of hot soup.

Shortly after that Lisa and Scott  opened the Round House Cafe in that old bank building and now, three years later,  it’s become a part of my life in ways I couldn’t have imagined.

I couldn’t have imagined it, because I’ve never experienced anything like it before.  This is not just a place to  gather and eat fresh, homemade food.  It’s  a place where people like (my now good friend) Mandy’s daughter, Marleigh,  can work, in a loving and creative environment until she goes off to college next year.  It’s a place where Peter, the minister from a small church the next town over, can come with his band and play music from the 80’s on a Friday night.   Where a painter, like Matt Chinian, can show and sell his work.

Jon calls the Round House Cafe the soul of our town, and I can’t think of a better way to describe it.  It’s a place of good will.   Lisa and Scott wanted to create a place of community as much as I was hungry for one.  It’s  become like a second home for me and Jon.  Nourishing in so many ways.

Today Lisa and Scott are celebrating the Third Birthday of the Round House Cafe.  We were there this morning for Brunch and birthday cake.

But I wanted to do something else to show my appreciation.  And I thought of Barb, on the other side of the country, who bought a couple of my potholders and in the envelop with her check sent me a ten dollar bill.  So I could buy me and Jon a cup of coffee and dessert at the Round House Cafe.

I know how much that meant to me.  Because it’s about so much more than the money.  So I thought I’d do the same for Lisa and Scott.  I’d make a small donation, to their GoFundMe.  Jon and I already made a donation to help them buy the old bank building and keep the cafe going.  But this is different,  like the money Barb sent me, something to say I’m so glad you’re there, you mean so much to me.

(I took the video today a the Round House Cafe’s Birthday Celebration.  That’s Lisa in the beginning talking to Jon and Scott snuggling with Red and the McIntosh’s making music.  You can see Lisa and Scott’s GoFundMe here).