Shutter a Dream:

Mary Ellen and I walked up to a café in a Southeastern Wisconsin Harbor Town looking to have lazy lunch on a brisk Saturday afternoon. The café was this picturesque quaint eating establishment that had opened about eighteen months ago. The owner was affable, friendly, outgoing and gregarious. The café offered a variety of hot and cold panini and pastry. The offerings were always delicious and the coffee was always hot. The kind of place this former industrial mecca transforming into a tourist harbor town on the shores of Lake Michigan really needs to support.

On the Ides of March we were greeted by a sign on the café door that the struggle had exacted its toll. The receipts were not sufficient to cover the expenses so the grand experiment was abandoned long before its completion. The sign actually said “thank you for supporting us, the café is closed. good bye!” Saddened and disheartened we felt empathy for the proprietors. We understand the pain of having to shutter a dream and relegate the hopes into the dustbin of memory.