Ebenezers is Not for Scrooges

Raise your hand if you like coffee!

Raise your hand if you like open spaces where you kids can run around while you relax!

Well if you like them, why don’t you marry them?!

I’m about to tell you a secret that will make you want to marry me. There’s this place, right on Capitol Hill where you can get a delicious caffeinated beverage and actually sit down and enjoy drinking it with your kids in tow.

It’s called Ebenezers Coffeehouse. You’ve probably heard of it; maybe you’ve even been there. But you haven’t done it the right way. How do I know? Because I’m there all the time and have never seen you there. I’ve almost never seen anyone there. Why? Because we hang out in the secret basement.

Perhaps it’s not exactly a secret to the hundreds of people who go there for meetings and concerts; but for families on the Hill, it must be a secret because I can’t think of any other reason why you wouldn’t all be there all the time.

Our weekend routine goes like this: grab our beverages, squeeze by the crowds of people upstairs and go to the basement. There, we have the entire place to ourselves. The girls drink hot chocolates, then play games, dance, sing, hula hoop, whatever their hearts desire– all while Dave and I enjoy a relaxing cup of coffee.

It is a staging ground for our weekend adventures. We go there first thing in the morning and decide what to do with the rest of our day. Sometimes we hang out there for hours, especially during cold winter days. There are TVs showing news or sports and a sound system that usually plays smooth jazz or R&B (which happens to be my fave). There are bathrooms and water fountains, so there’s no need to go upstairs. And ever time we’re there, we ask the same question, “why isn’t anybody else here?”

You can sit on soft leather chairs, in a booth, or in one of the many and stackable chairs. But don’t sit on those; they really need to be replaced, and a certain member of our family may or may not have had one collapse beneath him).

We’ve brought family and friends here, and it never disappoints. Occasionally, a rogue single person comes down hoping to get some work done. But my girls manage to scare them off fairly quickly. We even thought about renting the space for one of the girls’ birthday parties, but (just like everywhere else on the Hill) it was expensive.

Why am I telling you about this? Because I love you! Well, that and the fact that I can’t keep a secret. But now that you know, I’ll see you next weekend!