One of my favorite coffee stops was Tim Horton’s, now they are gone from the area but I am grateful for them still.
Day 2 of Gratitude project- When I look back on my gratitude journals for the past year, I am continually grateful for the delicious cup of coffee I am usually enjoying at the time I am contemplating all that I am feeling grateful for. Yet I think it is more than that.
Coffee is one of my favorite beverages and I can enjoy it at any time of day. It doesn’t affect the way I sleep at all. It seems like that no matter what is going wrong in the world, a hot cup of coffee can make it all seem better. If things are going great, what better way to celebrate than to enjoy a tasty cup of Joe? There isn’t one.
I am also often quite grateful for the people I am sharing the coffee with. Even if they don’t drink coffee themselves, there is a conversation that coffee inspires all the time. It brings people together, helps to build understanding, and allows for many problems to be solved.
Since most coffee is consumed in the morning, I think that when you drink it, for the most part you have high hopes about what the new day is going to bring. Will that problem be solved? Will that person call? Could you get that new job or raise? Whatever is on your mind can be pulled out, discussed and contemplated in a way that can only help you. All because of a delicious cup of a hot beverage full of caffeine and deliciousness. Tea I am sure works the same way as well.
According to Sheldon Cooper of the Big Bang Theory you should always offer someone a hot beverage when they are upset about something. Coffee works for me and I am sure for most people. The truth of this practice has some psychology behind it. What will make you feel more nourished and cared for? A hot beverage in your hands, that warm feeling might even be mistaken for love. No matter what it will make you feel better and that is the point.
So Today I am grateful for the thousands of cups of coffee that I have been fortunate to enjoy in my life and for all of the many wonderful people I have shared them with. I am grateful for the problems that were solved, the issues that were brought to light and the fact that no matter what happened, life was just a bit easier to live after enjoying this wonderful drink.
I am grateful for all of the many coffees I have enjoyed in my life, the people that have shared them and the solutions we found.
My Top Five Coffee Stops EVER: 1. Panera Bread 2. Dunkin Donuts 3. Tim Horton’s 4. Breton’s Store 5. Starbucks
It had been years since I had ventured into that attic As I climbed the rickety pull down ladder my face was greeted with a musty, dusty smell and the cold air that stabbed my cheeks reminding me of the winter weather outside. As my body became fully engulfed by the cold I tried to make it a quick visit. I was looking for my copy of To Kill a Mockingbird, when something caught my eye.
It was a box. There was nothing about the box that separated it or made it seem that much different from the rest of the boxes in the attic, but the feeling I had was definitely not normal or routine. I picked it up almost subconsciously and maneuvered my way back down to the warmth of the house below with the box still closed in my hands.
There was a Christmas excitement that I was feeling as I started to pull the top of the box open to see what treasure was held inside. I am not sure if the contents glowed but there was a light that emanated from the container as I peeked inside. It could have been real light for all I know or remember because inside were memories that hadn’t been disturbed in years and they were being resurrected today.
The Book
Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel. Beat modernization but became a furnace in the end!
The first thing I pulled out of the box was a book. It was a children’s book and a pretty ordinary one at that, but it brought to life, experiences that occurred long ago.
It was called Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. The contents of the book didn’t matter as much as the words. As I flipped through each page, the voices of those who read those pages to me in my youth came back. Most of them from the grave.
I was awash in nostalgia and even the love a kid feels when someone takes the time to read a story to you. Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and even some teachers voices rose from the page.
When I was child the best time of day was just before I went to sleep when my mother or father would read a story to us. It was a ritual that lit my imagination on fire.
I dreamed of castles, monsters and being a hero. Those images crept back into my mind as I remembered my imaginary adventures from long ago. I wondered how many kids today get to experience this now.
The Scrapbook
Phones looked like this. You dialed the numbers. It was slower yet better. Unless you dialed wrong.
Anxiously I moved on, the next item was a scrapbook I had made in junior high of all of the pictures I could find with me in them. As most young people are, I suppose I was a bit self-centered at the time.
It hit me as I remembered teams I had played on or my seventh grade class picture, just how much life had changed. Not one of the kids including me in those pictures had ever heard of a cell phone or a personal computer for that part.
Yet we managed to live our lives, make friends, go places, and have fun anyway. I remembered how awkward it was to call someone’s house (from the phone attached to the wall) and have to talk to their mom to see if they were home.
Each of these pictures made me wonder how kids can manage to
This is Paddleball. Not much too it thank God.
pay attention at all today. They always have an electronic distraction within arm’s length.
I had a hard enough time concentrating when there was only a paddle ball to distract me. If you are not sure what that is, see the image, but the point is I was easily distracted.
I looked at the kid I was and was happy for him that he had never dreamed of Facebook. It was much more fun to talk to girls in person I think.
My Former Friend
The most painful feeling of looking for your friend and seeing only an enemy
The next item was not filled with pleasant memories. It was filled with pain and sadness. It was a homemade award that one of my best friends had given me.
It represented some joke between us. We used to work together and I thought we were very good friends. It struck me that I had not seen nor heard from this person in over five years.
Something in my heart sunk as I thought about the temporary nature of all things in life and particularly the fleeting ideas of friendship. Why weren’t we friends anymore? What had happened?
It all seems so silly now. There was this award, a joke shared long ago that now only echos in hollow silence. They say that everything happens for a reason and some day perhaps I will understand the reason friendship ends, but it won’t be today.
The Game Changer
I was out of time and had to run, but I reached in the box one more time and this time I came out with a total shock. My collectors edition of thoughts by William George Jordan! The book I think is only significant to me as my reading of it changed my life from one of a taker to one of a giver.
Reading opened doors in my mind I never knew were there.
That book was the gateway for me into a world of wonder and wisdom. It planted the seed of an idea, that every thought you form affected your experience in life was a concept that I had never conceived of, much less ever heard of before.
I recalled how as one book turned into another that philosophies started to make sense in my mind. I remember not only feeling more positive about life but more hopeful about the fate of the world.
There were greater powers available to mankind than simply watching tiny plays acted out on a television screen. Learning is a lifelong thing and how much you want to learn is controlled only by your own personal desire and ability to put away your phone, turn off your television or computer and allow words to seep into your mind. The reward is knowledge of anything you want. Aladdin had a lamp, you have a book, each can make any wish you have come true.
The End
I closed the box and placed it in a very safe place and hurried off to my pressing appointment with work. Even though I left the room physically, my mind was still stretching back to what was inside that box.
It’s International Coffee Day: What’s your morning poison?
