“Doris Mae died at the age of seventy-four, after running her restaurant for twenty-nine years, serving breakfast and lunch six days a week. Writing about her life, columnist Jim Duffy describes what made the place special:
The mix of customers she brought together every morning was really striking, a we’re-all-in-this-
together mix of races and classes and professions. On any given morning in Doris Mae’s joint,
you might see lawyers, barbers, hunters, painters, beauticians, florists, politicians, real estate
agents, watermen, homeless guys, and interior decorators … all trading barbs and gossip and
greetings in a veritable symphony of small talk.
I found it pretty much impossible to leave Doris Mae’s without a smile on my face. Mr. Duffy may not use the language of the “kingdom of God” when he describes what happens at Doris Mae’s, but he could have. When viewed through the lens of Christian hope, the scene is a foretaste of the heavenly banquet, the coming reign of Christ, where everyone is gathered around the same table, joy abounds, and the barriers that divide us crumble to dust.”
-Kimberly Long, The Worshiping Body, pages 37-38
I do get it about the meme for the coming/akready here reign of Christ, but it does sound weighted in favor of extroverts. Maybe that’s OK because, at ;least in the US, they out number us introverts three to one, but I can think of several settings that I would prefer as a breakfast venue both now and in the times to come.