My mornings could be described as enviable. No longer do I hit the floor running, watching the financial news channels so as to be aware of what awaits me at the office. My kids are at a totally self-sufficient age having left carpool lanes and packed lunches long ago. These days my mornings are quiet and progress at a lazy pace.
For that I am grateful. Not a day goes by that I am not aware of how good I’ve got it. Sure we do with less, but we have so much more. Life has finally exited off the fast lane; no more gerbil cage for me.
I have a ritual in the morning, sometimes it starts as early as 6:30a.m., other days might be as late as 9. I have my coffee.
I love my morning coffee. And I love my friends. When I started combining the two… my mornings became truly peaceful for me. They calm me and prepare me for the day ahead and all it might hold… good and bad. Life is put in perspective during coffee time; I think of my friends and the challenges they may be facing, or I cheer for them from my kitchen table willing them to fulfill their dreams. We all have them, and they are easily lost, especially at the age my friends and I are. Children, jobs, life… can easily cloud our vision. They don’t know it… but they are with me, at my table… and I am listening.
My yellow “Atlanta” mug is from my friend Dini. She brought it back to me when we both lived in Texas and she got away for a few days of fun with Brent. There is absolutely nothing spectacular about this mug except that it is from Dini. We were Starbucks buddies in Texas, much of our together-time centered around coffee. Dini passed away 3 years ago last month; I often choose her mug to enjoy my coffee in, especially on days that might have a special emphasis on her boys. The first day of school I always choose Dini; we chat about how big the boys are getting, how she’d dig on their new haircuts and how proud she would be of Brent… holding them all together. Their lives are happy and good.
The Kansas mug with the tornado on it is for when I have coffee with my sister Toby. It comforts me to know that even though she is over 4000 miles away from me in Ireland, she too may be sipping her morning Joe from the matching mug I sent her last year. I hope to be sipping from it at her kitchen table soon.
“Nothing like buns and coffee to start your day” is on a mug from Robin. It has a picture of cowboys sitting on a fence showing off their perfect cowboy derrières; not a bad way to start your day! Robin is my “gentle” friend, the kind that just makes you want to be a better person.
The blue “General Store” mug is my “feel good” mug. I bought it this summer in Gruene, TX… home of the oldest outdoor honky-tonk in the country. We were on our family reunion (with people who aren’t really our family, not yet at least… wink, wink) and ALL those people make me feel great inside. I look forward to next June when we meet again and one by one we stumble out of bed, grab a cup of Joe and start our visiting all over again.
The earth-toned mug in the back is probably my favorite if forced to choose. It was given to me by a friend of my Dads. It was handmade in Kenya by women who strive to make life a little better for themselves and their families. These women most likely benefited from a micro-loan, which I am a huge fan of, and I cannot sip from this cup and not be transformed for just a moment into their world. How different, how difficult it must be, yet how alike we all are. I want to go there someday. I believe I will.
The mug next to that one is a hoot. It’s from my neighbor Mary who knows me all too well. It says… “Excuse me? Did you talk to me BEFORE I had my coffee?” Sadly, it’s spot on. Most people who know me are aware that I’m not socially acceptable until I have my hands wrapped around a piping hot mug and I’ve enjoyed at least one long slug!
The “Instinet” cup next to that one is the one mug I wish could talk to me. It would have a lot to say. This is the cup I drank from daily when I was in corporate America. My friend Jeanie has a matching one. We used to drop our empty cup by the coffee machine, run for a restroom break and fill it up on the way back to the trading desk. More often than not though… we’d forget the coffee having our latest transaction on the brain. Eventually one would mosey back for a refill and see the other had left theirs behind. Jeanie took hers black; I like a little creamer in mine. We would always come back with 2 cups in our hands, brewed to each other’s liking and no words needed to be exchanged; only a knowing smile. We always had each other’s back when it came to coffee… and life.
The pretty cup with the saucer is a work in progress. I have a friend I met several years ago through our girls playing club volleyball together. We are so different on the outside; she comes from old Kansas City royalty, a blue-blood we might call her. I’m a mutt. We gravitate toward each other for some reason, and both make an effort to stay in each other’s lives, even though there’s no real convenient reason to do so. I am going to see her this afternoon, its VB season again and although Jordie has decided to sit the High School season out, we’re going to watch Kim’s daughter play our school and cheer her on. It was a long summer and Kim goes to her vacation house up north. I crank the a/c up and stay here so we’re a little out of touch. I’m bringing her this pretty cup and saucer today, I have the matching set. Her mornings are a lot like mine except hers are much more productive; spinning classes, volunteerism, raising 4 kids with 3 dogs and a cat (oh and one bird or two?) in it. I hope tomorrow morning to have coffee with her, and she with me. We have a lot to catch up on.
I have other coffee mugs of course. "To go" cups, over-sized cups, pretty yet impractical (it’s all about the feel) cups. But these are the ones I choose when I want to have coffee with my friends.
BTW... if you’re not on my "coffee with friends" list, no worries. I’m starting a collection of wine glasses! Surely you’ll be on it… you know who you are!!!
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