Monday Mug Shot

Giant Starbucks Mug

This is a mug that really is all about the true meaning of coffee to me. It was a gift from my best friend.

Kelly and I have been on a few Best Friends trips over the many years of our friendship. Our first “just us” trip was a fishing expedition in the late 80s. We had to get pictures of us baiting hooks because the guys wouldn’t believe we’d touch worms! Silly guys! Yes, I fished off the dock in 2” heeled pumps, but I was still a grownup tomboy! Of course I baited my own hook! At that time, Kel was a little more grossed out by the worms than I was, although she wore the much more sensible for fishing shoes, but now, she fishes on a much more regular basis than me!

Marriages and moving and money have kept us apart more than we want and traveling less than we want, but our bond is so strong that we can live our separate lives, keep each other up on things and get together never missing a beat of that kindred spirit that unites us. I have long called Kelly my platonic soul mate. No matter what the distance, we’re there when we need each other, be it a long letter or email, a hone call or an all night drive. When I’m away from my best friend too long, I start to feel that emptiness that only she can fill. When we’re together, I feel that connection inside that makes everything okay. That’s the soul mate part.

Coffee, when shared between best friends, is a magic elixir. It’s a truth serum accompanied by the guarantee that any secrets you air will be kept tight. I holds memories like the penseive in Harry Potter that brings you to relive the good ones and reforgive the bad ones. It lets you laugh and cry with no inhibitions and when best friends have coffee together, they’ll tell you no one else have ever had coffee that good before!

Kelly and I were able to go on a couple of trips in 2004 and 2005. In 2004, I found and out of print book by Starbucks, The Love of Coffee for her. I loved my copy and really wanted to give her one! That same trip, when I gave her that book, she’d found me a huge Mensa mind twisters Puzzle book. We laughed at our book exchange! In 2005, she brought me this mug. She called it just a little thing. Her love for me was way bigger than the mug, which holds about three regular cups of coffee!

Kel and I met at Dunkin Donuts and shared coffee the first time we met. Over the miles and years, we’ve shared many a cup of coffee and all the intimate details best friends share with a good cup of joe. I’m sure there will be many more coffees for us at Dunkin, Starbucks or rocking on the porch in a to go cup at Cracker Barrel, one thing for sure, it will be, as it always has been, the richest and finest roast we ever drank