As the weather changes and the cool air gets colder, I am amazed at how many people I see toting around a coffee cup. I completely get the disposable cup being carried from place to place; although the thought of nearly 200-billion cups that are thrown away annually is enough to choke a horse, or even 200 billion for that matter. However, I don't get the trend of carting around your alma-mater’s coffee cup or the lead weight also known as a coffee cup given to you last Christmas from a coworker. In my mind that kind of cup is for sitting next to a warm cozy fire while it snows outside as you sip on your smooth peppermint coffee from Dunkin' Donuts.
I went with Dunkin' Donuts because I'm not a coffee drinker. I never have been. I don't get the feeling that coffee drinkers get when they close their eyes, roll them in the back of their head, slowly tilt the cup back and burn their lips right off as they indulge in what they might call, life's greatest gift. I could spout the unhealthy nature of it, or the waist of time it could be when other things need to get done or the complete pissing away of money for flavored water that it could be viewed as; but that is not why I don't drink it. I just plain don't like it. I drink water in the morning. Cause I like the taste of it.
Even though I don't like coffee, it doesn't mean I don't understand the nostalgia behind it for most people. A moment each day where it reminds them of good times with a loved one who has since passed, the bond it brings to those in the morning, the angle it creates to make that first move with someone you are interested in, the joy it brings when given as a gift. I understand that, I even understand how it is the only thing that clears your mind and gets you ready to walk back inside those four walls of hell, a place commonly referred to as work. But what I don't understand is why it is sometimes carried in fine china while a person walks their child to school, or why it is in a mug the size of a smart car as its owner drives down the road drinking from it.
Lately I have been in complete shock at how many people carry their coffee cups while dropping off their children at school. I'm not talking travel cup either, and yes I do know the difference. Missy is a coffee drinker and when she leaves the house she will take it in one of our three travel mugs. However the parents that I have seen lately are carrying cups that I would find in my grandmother's kitchen cabinet or possibly the laundry room cabinet if your grandmother is forgetting which room she is in.
Today as Dylan and I sat outside the school in the car waiting for just the right moment to head into class, I saw a woman drive up in her SUV. She stopped at the curb and motioned for her kids to hop out. As the kids walked away one turned to waive good-bye. Unfortunately the child never saw mom waive back. She was closed eyed with both hands on her red ceramic style mug as she slowly tilted it towards her mouth. She took a sip and as she lowered the cup slowly she looked as if she was about to have an orgasm. She smiled and her shoulders lowered as she exhaled all while her eyes remained closed. She had gone to a place that many people go each day, and she had done it in her car with her house cup. She then hit the gas and pulled out in front of another car. It wasn't close enough to cause a wreck but she could have been polite and waited. After that Dylan and I got out of the car and headed to class. We walked up the black-top and along the way I saw a man with a cup. He was carrying a normal, white, porcelain coffee cup as he and his son walked the black-top with the rest of the school children. One hand was grasping his son's, while the other hand was gripped firmly around the handle of his house cup. He stuck his head forward while he maneuvered the cup up to his mouth for a drink as they continued to walk. Normally there is another dad with his youngest child in a baby carrier strapped to his chest that walks around with his house cup. His older child wonders about while he sips hot coffee while trying not to spill it on the baby’s head. He's the kind of guy who holds the door with one hand and drinks with the other causing you to limbo around him so as not to bump his drinking arm, but we didn’t see him today. As I walked back to the car I noticed another woman, coffee cup in hand as she pulled up to drop her son off at the curb. A passerby waived at her and she fluttered her last three fingers on the hand holding the cup to signal some sort of an acknowledgement to her friend. There's a three way intersection that I needed to cross to get to my car, and she was parked in the crosswalk where I would normally walk. Her son closed the door and turned to run to class as I came to the crosswalk. She was now sipping out of her cup as she pulled into the middle of the intersection. To the left of her there was a car waiting to turn in the same direction she was going from the side street. She slowed down and motioned to the other car, so as to get them to drive on past her. The car turned and went around her SUV. She then proceeded to make a u-turn in the intersection all while sipping from her cup. I stood on the sidewalk waiting for the circus show to drive back past me before venturing out into the street. I even saw a woman driving down the road with her house coffee cup as we went to pick up Trevor from school today at 11:40 am. Obviously she had a much longer night and therefore was slowly joining the rest of the population who had already climaxed while driving their car drinking from their house coffee cup. I am in awe of the item commonly known as a coffee cup and how it no longer is sentenced to a life at home. I was unaware of its everyday use outside the house and the joy it continually brings people.
I think I'm going to go buy myself a coffee cup tonight. I'm envisioning one of the old styles where the base of the cup is about three times as big as the opening. I might even get a non slip pad and glue it down on my dash so I can keep it up there as I drive all the kids back and forth from school.
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