Coffee Mug Memories
We used to have a huge collection of coffee mugs, I bet many of you do, too. Some were gifts and some we picked up for ourselves. But really, how many coffee mugs does one family need? We pared our collection down, giving away some and putting others into storage. We only kept our favorites in the kitchen cupboard. I have my one favorite coffee mug that I use almost every morning.
Doesn’t everybody have a favorite coffee mug? My parents, not being able to find the perfect mug among our collection, even brought 2 of their mugs to live at our house for when they visit. Yes, they really did, because the perfect coffee mug is that important.
It was this paring down of the coffee mugs that caused me to be rummaging around in my cupboards on Saturday night. Boo and Philip were off camping with the Cub Scouts, so I was hosting our church’s ladies craft night at my house. This way I didn’t have to hire a babysitter for Bip and Pumpkin Girl and still be able to craft. My contribution to the night, besides the meeting place, was zucchini bread and pumpkin spice lattes. So you see, I needed coffee mugs.
One of the mugs I came up with was this one.
It made me think back just a couple of weeks ago when I found this on TV:
I went to high school with Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell, before he was the Iceman, and he gave me that 49ers mug for my 18th birthday. It was particularly meaningful because he was a Packers fan. This was back in the day when the 49ers were a dominate force in the NFL and the Packers were an “also played” kind of team. So upon discovering him in some pay-per-view special, I googled him and found his website. It’s more of a PG rated site, so click at your own discretion.
I swear to you, I really don’t make this stuff up!
So this morning, I’m sipping left over pumpkin lattes in my 49er mug, remembering my 18th birthday and Chuck Liddell and all my friends at my grown-up dinner at a “fancy” restaurant birthday party and how my boyfriend who lived in a different town wasn’t there. He wasn’t a very good boyfriend.
And just because the good Lord likes to make me squirm, this old boyfriend is now living in the DC area and works at the very same building that Philip does. They ran into each other on Philip’s first day of work. They had lunch together.
I’m not making this up, really.
Another good friend from high school grew up to play in the American Idol house band and was the musical director for Josh Groban’s back up musicians.
And now my latte is finished and it’s time to put the mug in the dishwasher and start school, so enough with the reminiscing.  Amazing the journeys your mind takes with one simple coffee mug.
2 quick things:
1) I went to high school with Priest Holmes back when he was just called Anthony and with N.D. Kalu (both professional football players) but neither of them ever gave me a coffee mug. : (
2) My oldest boy was recently confirmed and he chose the name St. Michael. WE were looking for a picture frame to put a St. Michael picture in for his desk when he came across a set of military picture frames. They said Air Force, Coast Guard, etc… across the bottom. He picked up the one that said Army and said, “Well, he is the leader of God’s Army!” I was reminded of that because my anti-spam word was “Army”.
Have a great day!
My FIL is a collector. Not of great things, mind you, but of things. He has a coffee mug that he just loves. It says “Phyllis.” His name is Jim. His wife’s name is NOT Phyllis. But, this yard sale mug is a favorite. My MIL tried to get rid of it during a white elephant sale at our church. My FIL came home from that sale so excited because he had found a Match to his mug! That’s when my MIL decided it was better not to try to get rid of his things….
Love the new look of the blog!!
We have a mug collection too. The worst part is, I don’t drink coffee!! Hubby does, so he’s always picking up some cool cup. Right now he’s really into metal ones for the car. It’s amazing how many you save up. I’ve never been able to get rid of them at yard sales and many have ended up in the trash. Sad!!