My daughter gifted me a coffee mug for Mother’s Day. It’s lovely and large with a sketch of a blue jay. Beside it in the kitchen cabinet sits another cup gifted by my son on another Mother’s Day with the quote, “Mother’s are Love.” It’s also lovely, a cool shade of teal on the inside, one of my favorite colors. Other gifted cups fill the bottom shelf, each with its own personal story.
There is the one that says, “World’s Best Secretary” that for some reason makes me bristle a little when I read it at this late stage in life. For a while I used it as a pencil holder but never has it held coffee or any other liquid.
Not only have I received coffee mugs as gifts, but I have gifted them to others as well. My favorites to gift are those cookie/cake in a mug delights, the ones with the mix packet that you add water to and stick in the microwave for a minute or so resulting in an instant dessert just right for one person. Sadly, I have never received any feedback on these one-use wonders. I mean, can you buy more packets or do you have to make up your own when you have used the one that came with the mug?
I have even bought mugs for myself. On a trip to St. Augustine after roaming the gift shop for what seemed like hours, I ended up buying a mug touting the “fountain of youth” on its side thinking that it would be really nice to drink my morning coffee from that cup.
Never happened, at least not at this writing. It sits on display on a shelf with limited visibility.
The point of my story is that I already have a favorite coffee cup, one I use every morning and have used for years. And no matter how many other cups I receive or buy for myself, I always use the same one. It’s not really anything special although it does have my name on it. It was a gift from a friend who vacationed in San Francisco and bought it for me on Fisherman’s Wharf. Below my name it has a line sketch of a trolley and below that the words “San Francisco”.
I can’t explain what it is about the cup that draws me to it other than it feels right. I was surprised to receive it as the friend was really just an acquaintance where I worked for a while many many years ago. Sadly, he has passed away but I’m sure, were he alive, he would be astonished to know that I use that cup every morning for my one daily cup of coffee.
I have tried using other mugs but always end up pouring my coffee back into my old favorite. It has somehow become part of me, reassuring, comforting, just me and my mug.
