Last Lap of 2025

Can I be honest? I’m not feeling this blog post. I had so much time to spend on it Tuesday with a snow day and our lowest sales day of the season. You could hear crickets sing jingle bells if winter was their season. Nothing was happening here. It was peaceful. It was quiet. But my motivation was spent. We start running pretty fast mid-July pulling applicants for interviews, then hit it hard with training new teammates in August while customer traffic increases, we find a good stride in September only to ramp up events and activities through October and November culminating with Thanksgiving - Decorating - Black Friday - Shop Small - Giving Tree + Holiday Walk at the turn of the month.

Here we are in the final lap of the year, and my fatigue is showing. I know this because a customer walked up to me and simply said, “Smile”. Which only made me grumpy. I always smile! I’m known for smiling! Don’t tell me to smile. In fact, I won’t smile. After my silent rant, I walked straight to our floor manager, Faith, and confessed, “I think I’m in a bad mood.  I’m not okay today.” A week of watching families reunite, college students return, friends getting caught up and sharing good news, made Fort Thomas Coffee feel cozier than ever. And here I am, Scrooge McGrump.

I was working on the latest problem to solve, layers deep into time-cards, spreadsheets and calculations, so sure my brow was furrowed in concentration. But this customer was having fun, enjoying their community at FTC during a week of gratitude and celebration and they wanted me to delight in the moment too. I wanted to too! I think that’s what was really bothering me, we built a place for people to find connection and belonging, to feel at home, to enjoy and have moments of celebration. And while they were living out our vision, I was stuck at work the next seat over.

As I type right now, a delighted 9-year-old boy is not far from me celebrating the first waking hours of his birthday with his mom, sister, and a delicious FTC donut. This is THE BEST JOB EVER! It is such a gift to live out this dream. Brilliant and beautiful things happen here every day.  And I get to be around that. Hours later, a new friendship is forming behind me as two men meet over a common interest in support of one another. One man is working out his business plan to launch something unique that will bring comfort and answers to many. I just overheard an older woman begin sharing her story of loss and trauma with a young man she seems to have just met, and I wonder - is he writing a book? Maybe she’s offering him hope for his circumstances. I’m not sure, but it seems intentional and beautiful. Future doctors and lawyers are fixated on their screens preparing for exams. A grandpa is reading a book to his grandson while a child nearby plays PacMan. A woman stopped in for a cup of coffee and connection in between visits caring for her 98-year-old mother. Friends are catching up. Sisters are on their weekly coffee date. Our One Highland condo neighbors just came over to say, “Hi”. Oh, and here comes Mike and Jim again. I love those guys. And gosh, I really want to listen in on that woman and young man’s conversation. Something important is happening there.

As you can see, I’m blessed. I’m surrounded by beautiful people doing beautiful things. I have a great purpose and have every reason to smile. But here we are in the home stretch of 2025, and I need to be reminded to smile. Envy for those who have already finished this stretch or weren’t in the race at all won’t get me any closer to enjoying purpose.  

We get to do a great thing here at FTC, and we have opportunity to finish the next lap well. We’re planning the 2026 shift schedule this week, pulling applicants for interviews next, hiring, training, reassigning manager duties for new organization structure, preparing for December events, re-working costs of goods sold and cleaning up our register to begin phasing out the penny in time for the new year. It’s not exactly the time to slow down or give up. It might be time to ramp it up. I just told my kids they have two more weeks of school to hit it hard, to make sure they have all their assignments complete, and to do what they need to do to confidently finish the semester with midterm exams. It’s actually time to stay focused and keep running toward the next benchmark. Not everyone gets to run their race alongside great company, conversation, inspiration, and beauty like we do. So even with a furrowed brow, I’ll be smiling on the inside. I know I’m blessed and I’m grateful. Cheers to you, our community, for making FTC the place to be. And cheers to finishing 2025 well!

This blog post pairs best with a quad shot of Deeper Roots Alchemy Espresso. Let's go!