The Search for a Connection

Did you know it can still be difficult to find internet in a small town? While getting ready for our last minute, quick trip to my husband’s hometown for Gram’s funeral, we both breathed a sigh of relief remembering the new coffee shop of with internet we’d found when we visited at Christmas. No more searching for a nice place to check email and catch up on a bit of work. But to our dismay, the shop was closed—for vacation!

So we took ourselves (and our computers) to another place in town we’d used before, one which charged for Internet access. No matter, we decided. But when we arrived, the place had changed hands and was now a café and a flower shop! We went in and asked about Internet access (actually, I asked it they had Wi-Fi and the guy said, “Huh?”). Turns out they did—when they finally found the right password to give us. But we felt bad taking up a table while just drinking tea, depriving a waitress of a party with a larger check.

Finally, on a whim, we checked the McDonald’s. Lo and behold, we were connected—and for free. We answered emails and other things in a decently comfortable booth in a completely remodeled restaurant (no playground, no red and yellow motif.) I never imagined I’d be happy to spend an afternoon at Mickie D’s after all those years of Happy Meals with my kids!