I don’t know about you, but my mornings are crazy. I hit the ground running, getting my family ready for the day, getting my kids to school, getting into work on time and going full force for the rest of the day. GO! GO! GO! Most days are a total blur, but there is 10 minutes of my day that I have forced myself to slow down. On the main level of our office building, is a little coffee shop called The Unseen Bean. I think for the first six months of my job I rushed in and rushed out of the building without even giving it a second glance, but running around at that pace burns you out fast. I started to frequent The Unseen Bean, for my morning pick me up, because let’s face it, I am exhausted. At first I wished it was a Starbucks, but I would soon realize, it could never be Starbucks, and that would be the best part about it.
The Unseen Bean is owned by Gerry Leary. Gerry was born blind, but not helpless. Gerry spent 40 years being an auto mechanic before he decided to turn in his tool box and become a Master Coffee Roaster. In fact he is the only known blind roaster. Gerry grew up in California, and one day a friend called him up and said that he had an extra room in Black Hawk for him if he could get there. In January Gerry hitch hiked to Vail. He needed to get from Vail to Black Hawk. He was wearing only a thin jacket, because he hadn’t really even experienced cold before. He said he said he wanted to give up and sit down and die it was so cold. Finally someone picked him up. The guy told him he would take him in but he didn’t have any heat. Gerry took his jacket off, figured out how to fix the heat using his jacket and was finally able to get warmed up. Gerry has lived in Colorado ever since. Gerry’s happy and amazing attitude is infectious. All of our conversations end with Jerry telling me, with a large grin on his face, “Have a happy day!” The truth is that I always do have a happy day after running into Gerry. Gerry is often seen with his amazing sidekick, London, a beautiful yellow lab. London is The Unseen Bean’s friendly loving mascot.
Gerry’s right hand woman is Kimme. Kimme has known Gerry since she was a baby. Her father wanted to meet the blind mechanic, and they quickly became friends. Gerry remembers holding Kimme as a baby. It seems to me most days you can find Kimme working hard at the coffee shop. Kimme is the kind of person who greets you with a smile and legitimately cares about you and wants to get to know you.
Each morning I am frantically trying to get everything done. My days are long and my time is short, but I am so happy that I slowed myself down to go into this little coffee shop, get to know the people in it, and start my day off on the right foot. So when you come into Dietze and Davis, P.C., take time to visit the coffee shop downstairs, and have a happy day!