coffee

{via etsy}

every morning i wake up, brew my coffee, and start my day. some days this whole process of pulling myself out of bed and out to the coffeepot goes more smoothly than others. but i do it every morning.

coffee is wonderful. good coffee, that is.

coffee has the ability to evoke a variety of emotions in me. you may think this strange, but that does not make it less true.

coffee always reminds me of grammy. always.

up until i was a senior in college i didn't drink coffee regularly. sure, i went to starbucks, but i never ordered just plain coffee, and i certainly didn't have it every day. but during my internship the summer before my last semester i started drinking it in the mornings. and excepting very few mornings since, i've been a coffee drinker.

grammy loved that. she seemed almost proud that despite neither of my parents being coffee drinkers, i had become one. almost like she gave me a coffee gene.

it's funny to think about in a way. for as many things as i remember and associate with her, coffee is one. she took a long time to drink her coffee, and you could often smell it on her breath. many times when i think back over the memories i have of her, she is either drinking coffee, or white zinfandel.

to me, coffee has a way of slowing things down, even when it speeds it up. most mornings i can take my time drinking my coffee. i can savor it, and while doing so attempt to savor the moments of life happening around me. i say attempt because life with a toddler does not give one a lot of time to reflect during said toddler's waking hours. however, good coffee and a moment to drink it remind me of what life is about.

it helps me pause and give thanks for my life, and reminds me of what my priorities should be.

coffee also has a way of bringing people together. not at the preclusion of other things, but over the years, i've had many coffee dates with friends. my friend tina and i used to meet with our small group girls in a coffee shop, and to this day walking into a cozy coffee shop makes me relax a bit even if i'm getting my drink to go.

the coffee mugs in our house hang on the wall of the dining room. when people come over they get to pick their mug. if keane is awake when i make my coffee in the morning, he has to approve my mug. [seriously, he'll point, and if i pick one he doesn't like that day he shakes his head no.]

i associate coffee with reflection - whether it's through writing, deep thought, or conversation. i associate it with getting things on track. sometimes it's my day, sometimes it's what is going on in my life as a whole.

as i've shared over the past couple of posts - life is crazy right now... peter and i just talked last night about how we have both started feeling a bit burnt out. we both crave a bit of personal time when we don't feel like we're "on the clock" so-to-speak.

all that to say that even though i honestly feel a bit guilty for wanting that time; the alone time i crave most is time at a coffee shop reflecting on life and getting my ducks in a row. [it seems there are quite a few ducks right now, and they all have their own individual minds and ideas about where we should go next. kind of like toddlers]

this morning i'm reminded of the quote i put at the top of this post - i need a little bit of coffee, and a whole lot of Jesus. and for some reason, my little bit of daily coffee reminds me that i need a whole lot of Jesus.

i hope you have a great monday.

full of coffee and Jesus.

xoxo