Just a Cup in the Morning

What is a cup of coffee? Sure, we all know what elements make-up a cup of coffee. Excluding all the added intricacies within the sometimes complex beverage, it's simply roasted coffee beans brewed with water, served either hot or cold. (Preferably hot, if you were to ask me). How we like our coffee can be different person to person. Cream and sugar? Iced? In a specialty beverage? Cold brew? Nitro? There's even a variety of ways our coffee can be served to us. Using a French press? Grinding the beans right before brewing? Despite the plethora of ways our coffee is brewed or served, it's still universal in how it impacts us and the personal world we live in and know. So rather than asking 'what is a cup of coffee', perhaps the better question is: what is the significance in a cup of coffee?

Coffee is an opportunity catalyst. It is a solution creator. It is an ice-breaker. It is a team builder. The steaming cup is there to celebrate the accomplishments or catch-up with old friends. The lightly colored, iced beverage awaits your next sip in times of grief and in times of triumph. The aromas of freshly ground coffee beans fill the room while consoling a loved one or while envisioning the next million-dollar idea. It sits in the mug while planning the next vacation, and then basks with you after the audible "aah" leaves your lips while overlooking the mountain scenery. The trickling noise in the pot behind you amplifies while you prepare to sign that important document. The countless stains left in the cup holder in your car are hidden by the travel mug that rests next to you as you drive to that first day on the job, after months and months of interviewing, searching and applying. The black beverage with just 2 packets of sugar substitute ripples in the cup on the vanity, while you practice, in the mirror, the wedding proposal you've been anxiously planning. It's offered to you while you wait in the office of the agency that will help you adopt that bundle of joy. It's in a hospital waiting room to warm your hands (because it's always chili in those places), while you sit in anticipation for the end of the surgery. The 'World's Best Dad' mug is stationed on the end table as you watch Saturday Morning Cartoons with your mini-me snuggled next to you. The coffee-cup rings on the kitchen table remind us of who used to sit in that spot. The welcoming beverage is there to boost confidence, ease tensions, fill-in awkward spaces and promote collaboration. It's an idea chaser, dream maker, and memory developer. Coffee is there to reconnect, rekindle, recover, remember and remiss.

I'm sure we could all think of times where coffee was present in those memorable times, or at least played a part in it. It has been significant in my life and continues to be, including being the product that helps pay my bills and support my family. The first time I found out I was going to be a father was while sitting in a coffee shop with a friend that I was reconnecting with after we'd lost touch. I can still remember where I was sitting, coffee in hand, when my wife called me with the news. I also remember opening my front door, at 18 years old, when my biological mother appeared on the front porch, after a 5-year "hiatus." When she was around, I remember coffee was in her bloodstream, and this time was no different. She rang the doorbell with one hand and held a 32oz thermos of black coffee in the other. The memory of pulling out of a coffee shop drive-thru when my step-mother called to tell me my brother had overdosed is crystal clear. The image appears in my mind of drinking coffee with my wife the first morning after our wedding. I've laughed, cried, relaxed, planned, prayed, and contemplated over coffee.

The story of my life, as with anyone's, is filled with victories and trials. Each day creates memories and milestones, big and small. And to think that day started with just a cup of coffee...