Losing Tommie's

For me, personally, the world just got a little colder. But loss is not something new to me, and I'm sure not new to many of you.

Tommie's Café closed for the last time today (Sunday, October 27th) at 1pm. I arrived shortly after four to find Tommie and Kelly Van Fossen sitting inside with their youngest daughter Juliana chatting about this and that. Juliana, who is a precocious 13, was asking a lot of questions typical of hyper intelligent girls her age, demanding clarification on just about everything and which her parents patiently answered.

Tommie invited me in, and I sat with the three of them. Looking around, I couldn't help but notice the bare bones of what had been, simply put, the friendliest business I've ever run across.

“Whoever moves in here,” I told them. “They have mighty big shoes to fill.”

Kelly thanked me for that, but I said it with sincerity of someone who benefited from her kindness and generosity. I wasn't the only one.

Remembering that Tommie's Café was attached to the Livermore Library, there's a certain type of clientèle one must expect. Intensely intellectual people, people who work out of the library, and the bottom of the barrel. I fit into the latter category, of course. But Kelly welcomed all with open arms and a huge smile on her face. One of the things she demonstrated the most was empathy and one of the things she demonstrated the least was patience. She has the patience of Job. She'd never let on that she's being patient with you unless you knew her well enough to read her... and that takes time.

Tommie's Café had its cast of characters. I suppose I was one of them. The village idiot, as it were. But if we had to compare it to the popular sitcom Cheers, the cast of characters included the very popular Norm, the ever so eloquent Frasier when he was married to Diane, and the Bar-Know-It-All, Cliff Claven.

The three wonderful women behind the counter were Super Woman, Take No BS Ever and, of course, Mrs. Soft Hearted herself... that would be Kelly... oh, and lest I forget, the soon to be Lady Professor had recently returned...

When Steve Sweeney was still Chief of Police, he'd often show up early in the morning right as Tommie's opened and grab a quick breakfast and a cup of coffee. Since his retirement, he'd still pop in from time to time just to catch up with her and others there.

Tommie's was as social an atmosphere as anyone could imagine. Local Historian Anne Homan would frequent and sit with just about anyone who was interested in chatting. There were no shortage of those.

Kelly very often showed how much she cared for the people who were “Less Fortunate”. She'd always allow people to come in out of the cold, give hot water, sometimes a free cup of coffee or even a sandwich to someone who was hungry. There are those who took advantage of that generosity, of course.

Kelly very rarely found it necessary to turn anyone away. But like a lot of kind hearted people, she was sometimes punished for her tolerance and generosity. I won't sully this piece with details, but, suffice it to say, there are those with such a sense of entitlement that they actually became abusive when they didn't get a freebie from Tommie's.

For my part, Tommie's gave me an anchor. Kelly graciously allowed me to help her out most mornings. I wouldn't do very much. I'd pull down the chairs, do the ice if necessary. Take out the trash in the afternoons sometimes. I'd carry stuff in from her car and maybe fold rags if they needed folding. If I spent more than 15 minutes doing any of this any one day, it was a rare thing. It gave me a reason to get up in the morning and have a place to go and be motivated to face the rest of the day. And no, Kelly did not need my help, but I think she recognized I had a need, and she very graciously allowed that need to be filled. She'd reward me with a cup of Dutch Chocolate Coffee each morning and since I started my new job, it has been a fabulous start to my day.

Of Tommie's patrons, Pat, and Joe, and Tish, and Yvonne and all the rest of you... I'll miss all of you. All of you know what it is we just lost...

In that little corner hole in the wall, just to the right of the Livermore Public Library main entrance, someone will bring a new business at some future date... I've no idea when...

And yes, they do have some mighty big shoes to fill...