The Roll-up Café

Amy and I now drive to the hospital four times a day to visit and breastfeed our little baby in the NICU (see full coverage of our baby's birth at her blog). Because we drive past the same stores and restaurants so often we have started to get curious about them and we've decided to stop in and find out what they're all about. First up:

Roll-up Café on State Street in Orem

We rolled in around 6:00 pm on a Saturday night and the place was nearly empty, but that didn't stop the teenage girl behind the counter from being really flustered. Throughout the course of our stay she notified us several times that she was the only employee there and that she was alternately bored and overwhelmed. The place had a really kooky vibe, and it was clear that they would like to be the hub for the Orem/Provo bohemian scene. The decor consisted of melted vinyl records in the shape of flowers, bookshelves made from actual old books, and baskets of quirky local arts and crafts for sale like hand-knitted owl-shaped smartphone cozies (it reminded me of this "Bein' Quirky" SNL sketch, where Björk knits a sweater for an octopus with an extra hole for "its ideas and dreams"). They also had a tiny stage area with a guitar at the ready for their open mic night on Tuesdays.



Amy and I both ordered savory crepes, and when I bit into mine it was cold in the center and the bacon was uncooked. The employee volunteered to cook it for a few more minutes, noting that she had only worked there for a month and her coworker hadn't shown up. While we waited for her to cook our food properly we overheard two teenage boys at the table behind us pontificating about their pot-smoking habits. My favorite conversation snippet: "Dude, if your parents found out you smoke two ounces of weed everyday I don't think they'd even be mad - they'd be impressed."

As our reheated food arrived at our table, a pair of high school girls came in all dolled up for prom. They explained that they had each been ditched by their respective prom dates three days ago, but they weren't going to let that spoil their fun, so they had decided to go together.

It may sound like I'm making fun of the place, but I actually liked it a lot (although the food was merely okay). I like that they are trying to make a place in the Provo/Orem area where kids who are a little different can feel at home. Although we were in a hurry to get to the hospital, I thought I'd try to cheer up the two girls in their prom dresses and the abandoned clerk with a little song. I thought the Buzzcocks' classic "Ever Fallen in Love with Someone You Shouldn't Have" seemed appropriate for the two ditched girls; Amy caught the very end of the performance on her phone:

The girls were ecstatic - they grabbed their phones and were like, "We can't believe you're doing this for us!" It was an easy and fun gesture on my part, but it was something that might just be a highlight when they're telling the story of the night they went stag to the prom. And as we walked out into the parking lot, Amy stopped me and kissed me and said, "I'm glad you're the type of person who does stuff like that."

I am too. One of my favorite posts I have ever written was called "Young at Heart" from 2009. I was 28 and a single doctoral student at the time that I wrote it, but I wrote at the time that I hoped that even though I was "growing up" I hoped that I could still find joy in doing fun and silly things every once in a while. Well, now I'm 32, an MBA student, married, and a new father, and guess what? I still find fun and silly things all around me, and I try to share that sense of joy with others. And I hope that I can teach Miles to find joy and fun around him too, and to share it with others.