Welcome to this week’s Grateful Heart Monday entry, which is always an entry in gratitude from somewhere in my life. Today, I want to give thanks for a very relaxing day trip my friend Ronn Musser and I took one Friday afternoon just over a week ago now to the small town of Yellow Springs, Ohio, a town that really felt a lot like it was straight off the set of the movie Pleasantville!
If you’ve never had the chance to see the movie Pleasantville, I encourage you to give it a whirl. While this entry in gratitude isn’t necessarily about that movie, the warming and welcoming energy from all the townsfolk in Pleasantville is exactly what I felt during my entire afternoon stay in Yellow Springs. From the very moment we drove into the downtown vicinity where all the cute little shops and restaurants were, I noticed people everywhere were smiling and conversing amongst one another. It felt very inviting indeed.
Our day began at a 19th Century restaurant named the Ye Olde Trail Tavern, which had a number of entrance ways I had to duck below, assumingely because people of my height didn’t probably exist with great regularity in the early 1800s. Built in 1827, the tavern and restaurant definitely held the air of stepping back in time, which could be felt immediately upon walking in. As we were cheerfully greeted and seated on the outdoor patio on a 68-degree sunny day, I noticed the menu was quite eclectic, from German fare to beer battered fish to a number of very interesting sandwiches and burgers. My personal favorite was the huge piping hot pretzel sticks and beer cheese we started our meal with. Everything else we ate was absolutely delectable as well and I want to give our waitress kudos too for giving us plenty of friendly tips for things to see and do during our visit, including where I could get some sweet treats, something I always do when visiting somewhere in small town America.
Most of the rest of our day after our lunch was done was spent going into all the neat little shoppes in town, where I can honestly say that every worker or owner greeted us with not just a smile, but also bountiful conversation. I very much appreciated the owner of the first store we entered, the Village Herb Shoppe, who gave me a free white sage bundle after I shared some of my spiritual journey with him. With each subsequent store, the warm feeling continued. At Basho apparel, the store owner was from Greece who made his own shirt designs, one of which I liked so much I bought. Another store owner took pride in how he’s doing his part to protect the environment with products that create sustainability. At Yellow Springs Toy Company, the employee had a great chat with my friend Ronn and talked about totally loving his unique job. At Tom’s Market, we walked up and down the aisles just taking in the variety of products that we never get to see in the big supermarkets near our homes where I also noticed all the employees seemed very happy. We ended up getting a few homemade desserts there that included a “key limb bomb” and a “cheesecake cone”. Wow is all I can say about how tasty they were! A few other key notables to mention from a few other stores we visited that brought a warm smile to my face included seeing a black cat sleeping so soundly in an empty bin at the comic book store that she didn’t even stir an ounce when petted, or the shopkeeper who busily swept off his sidewalk until not one spec of debris remained and his area was spotless, or the friendly metaphysical shop workers who guided me to find a few owl crystals for my partner, or the amazing photo work I saw in one store that when I asked who the incredible photographer was, the employee said it was him (Ryan L. Taylor) and thanked me profusely while talking about where many of his pictures were taken.
Overall, I must say that I thoroughly felt uplifted and renewed during my entire afternoon visit to Yellow Springs, Ohio. It’s no secret that I’ve struggled immensely trying to feel that way in Toledo, Ohio, where on most days, it feels the exact opposite. So, this was truly refreshing and uplifting to my heart and soul. Yellow Springs is beautiful town that I could totally see myself living in, especially when I saw a community board near the local market that posted many of the things to do around town, including countless free spiritual classes of things I’m totally interested in. I actually wished after seeing that board that I could have stayed much longer.
Nevertheless, Yellow Springs, Ohio is a lovely town with plenty of lovely people who take great pride and joy in not only their stores, but also in their town itself, a town I hope to visit again one day and a town most definitely worthy of being the subject of today’s Grateful Heart Monday entry!
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
