Can we Share a Cup of Coffee?

Thank you Jacob- Ruthie as promised pictures of our matching T's!

October 12, 2012

It's late afternoon I sit working on sending e-mails and find myself pausing to once again reach for my cup of coffee.  I smile to myself thinking of all those who will also smile seeing that once again coffee has worked its way into a note from me and then a thought crosses my mind, do they understand the significance of this little cup- or in my case the rather large cup?  So while I am here in The PICU waiting room of a hospital in India with that warm cup held casually in my hand let me share.   

 

This cup is a reminder, it is a warm hug from home, it is a measure of fellowship, it is love in a cup.  I was raised in a family of coffee drinkers, not just Mom and Daddy but really a family of them.  I learned to make coffee when I was four and my delight was to awake before my parents to be the one to make the coffee for them- this did end in some funny stories, you see it meant starting coffee at three or four in the morning if I was going to be done before my early rising parents we're up at five.  Some of my fondest memories are of the early morning smell of coffee- it meant time...fellowship, lives starting the morning together.  I loved hearing my grandparents at the table with my parents in early conversation hot steaming cups in their hands.  My mom's brothers left incredibly early for work but I could always count on hearing their voices in the kitchen around 4:30 or 5:00 lighthearted banter of siblings as they visited those few minutes over the coffee momma had ready for their stop through.  It became inseparable in my mind with loving well.  The sacrifice of sleeping in to make sure the pot was hot and people knew they were loved and welcome.  In my family coffee shops are gathering places to catch up, asking if someone wants to meet for coffee is an "I Love You" moment that says you are important to me, your fellowship is something I desire.  Oh and if the coffee shop doesn't work out stop by our homes, you see family knows coffee. There will be the signature flavors, the fresh smell of roasted and ground beans, the line up of new creamers, and two pots on the counter so that if the afternoon cup needs to be decaf we can handle that.  I smile knowing that we have GPS for every Starbucks along our route and yet we do occasionally branch out to check out the local flavors.  I love that people "send" me cups of coffee loving me and fellow shipping from a distance each sip reminds me of love and memories and precious people.  I think it is a treasure to know that Mikey went to all the work of finding out the mix of flavors for my favorite Turtle coffee at my home town coffee shop so that he would be able to mix it just right for coffee days in China. This wonderful coffee time tradition was reinforced while I was in Wales as every afternoon they broke for tea- I love the fact that they slowed down and took time to sip on a cup and re-energize for the rest of the day.  I must here interject that we are also big tea drinkers...partly because my sweet sister Melissa is NOT a coffee girl, she loves the smell, loves that it brings us all together but her massive morning cup will be filled with tea.  Another reason to serve, I love that our coffee tray takes into consideration the flavors of each of those represented, their likes and dislikes, that their desires are put before the perfect match of my hostess tray.

  This delight in the fellowship of coffee has carried over to my life at The Big House and I have been once again blessed with some coffee lovers there as well.  We all love to see that afternoon "Coffee?" text.  So as I reach for this cup of coffee I am encouraged, I am held close, I am loved. You see the folks at the Big house recognize this little life quirk of mine and sent me a bag full of encouragement, notes each taped to an instant Starbucks Via packet.  So as I sip my cup I am thinking of each of you and the coffee we have drunk together, here is to you and the fellowship of family, of tradition, of memories and of a love that can't wait to pour another another cup!