My
grandparents used to drive across three states in the middle of the night to
reach my great grandmother. No matter the time of their arrival, there
was always a pot of coffee on to welcome them. My grandparents and great grandmother
would tuck my father and uncle into bed and stay up all night talking. They
couldn’t wait to catch up.
I
wonder how many millions and billions of relationships have been strengthened
by coffee chats? How many of us have found comfort in starting our days with
that first cup? Perhaps it’s been in the kitchen with a loved one or silently
greeting God’s creation at the window? Maybe you’ve groggily yet cheerfully
gathered around the coffee pot at work? Possibly it’s been around a table at
noon with others who understand or at a café where you finally met?
Look
at the Starbucks and coffee shops that have spread like wildfire across this
country and around the world as people not only seek out the caffeine but also the
warm smiles shared over the counter as joyful baristas ask your name or already
know it. Hours and hours are spent in these coffee shops in the comfort of friends
or even in the comfort of just not being alone.
Oh,
coffee, yes, I am thankful for you.
I’m
thankful for the memories of meeting my friends almost daily as teenagers at
the Hillcrest coffee shop in Little Rock drinking giant chai tea lattes not
worrying about the world revolving around us only caring about each other and
that moment. It really was all ok.
I’m
thankful for the ways you kept us awake giggling through our studies in college
and leading us to the completion of those papers and preparing us for exams.
I’m
thankful for the strength you gave me to lift my head and push my cart through
Target and smile through every aisle the first time I left my daughter at home
with my husband after she was born.
I’m
thankful that you bring new people into my life and that you give me time with my
dearest friends and colleagues. That you give us a time out to catch up, to
listen, to share, to solve, to just be.
I’m
thankful for every cup and conversation shared, especially with my parents and
my mother-in-law, who always make sure the coffee’s on, and I’m thankful to my
husband, who may not drink coffee but who knows how important putting the
coffee on can be.
Here’s
to sharing that next cup, everyone.
With
love and light,
LT
