Choose Your Warrior (#109)
Reflections on the biggest choice of the day. Plus: galaxy mugs!
Every morning, I pad out to the kitchen to plug in the coffee maker. Depending on the schedule of the day, I may spend the next ten minutes waiting on the couch or waiting in the shower. These are all embedded subroutines, requiring no real energy on cognitive processing.
And then, I make my first important decision of the day.
I choose the vessel of my hopes and dreams for the next 24 hours.
Who will be my warrior this morning?
Will it be the birthday gift I got over a decade ago that came with a matching lid to support steeping of hot drinks and prevent spills?
Will it be the parting gift I got from my last job - my coworkers and I having created a shared language that mixes snark and memes with scholarship and support?
Will it be the birthday gift I got for Ben one year - one of a dynamic duo1 that elevated the random assortment of mugs he had on hand when setting up a new house many moons ago for solo parenting?
I think about other mugs.
I think about the thick diner-style porcelain that my uncle used to brew dark roast from a company that no longer exists post-pandemic. How he would add splashes of whipping cream “as a treat” before serving. How he would pair it with plain sour-cream donuts and humorous gentle insights. I don’t know many folks that could drink coffee like him. I don’t know many that offered comfort like they would a cup of coffee.
I think about the formidable vessels that the wife of one of my mom’s former coworkers. I would have to wait for her to finish work after a day’s lectures at the university, and the office graciously let me squat in their break room / storage room. There, rich coffee was always brewing; leather scraps and wood shavings also mingled with the aroma of the dark brew to create a cozy perfume. I would study for an hour or so, cradling these works of art teeming with comfort. Cradling the gentle conversation and support from the workers who would share their brews with me.
I think about the mug I use with the seriousness of selecting a program of study. And especially in the mornings, in the quiet of dawn of a day not yet awakened, I gravitate to heft, to thick ceramic, to rough-hewn surfaces, to artistic expressions.
The second is more purposeful utilitarian a dosage delivery system. But the first holds the promise of the unexplored, and the quiet space needed to begin the day anew. And my mug grounds me in my hands, in my ritual.
It’s time to choose my warrior for another day.
This Week in SciArt
As you can well imagine by now, I love a good coffee mug. Combine that with science and I am sold.
Well, almost; I haven’t yet purchased one of these, but Amy Rae Hill’s gorgeous galaxy-themed creations, like this wizard nebula mug from her portfolio, are on my short list of “art to buy”.
And which he rarely uses - except when I make hot toddies for the two of us - preferring the smaller vessels. His reason? Smaller quantities are drunk faster and thus he always has a drink at the scorching hot temperature he enjoys.
Oh Bryn, this beautifully-written post is SO relatable! Mugs are such a personal thing, aren't they? Although I have plenty I will always gravitate to the same few, and will get disproportionately (not to mention ungratefully!) grumpy if I am given a cup of tea in the wrong one! 🤣
I feel like I’ve been mugged after reading this post… 😎