des moines coffee chat

sitting in a starbucks off the road in west des moines, iowa, listening to the acoustic starbucksy music they play, waiting for our team leader to take a conference call with our unit leader and point of contact at our next deployment location.

a man in his early thirties approached me because he recognized our grey shirts and khakis, the eternally identifying symbols of americorps nccc corps members. he mentioned that he was originally from illinois but that he had done americorps nccc at the sacramento campus as well. after his year in his own 15-passenger, he went on to serve with an americorps state program in iowa and now lives here in iowa. his main emphasis was on how much he misses his nccc experience. his advice: really appreciate every moment of the program right now "because then you get out and real life is hard". 

another family, consisting of an older gentleman and three daughters, approached me as well. the gentleman was adorned with a white beard, a dark tan indiana jones hat, yellow suspenders decorated like rulers, and long green cargo shorts. he recognized our uniforms because americorps nccc members had helped rebuild rooftops at a boy scout camp he worked at several years ago. he went on to tell me about the family roadtrip they're taking across the country to end up in los angeles, where they're originally from, though his children have spread out across the country over the years (hence the family road trip across the country). departing words: thank you for all of your service. 

thank you, people of america.