Sunday Coffee Cup- My Sister

We all have them stashed and stacked in the cabinet. Why do we collect so many coffee mugs and cups? Some are little more than clutter. A plastic memento of a meaningless event or casual encounter with a random company. Yet, for me, what I see when I reach for a Sunday morning cup for my coffee is a cupboard full of significant life moments, memories of time well sent and people kindly known. My Sunday morning coffee cup selection is never really casual. Each time I choose a mug, I'm choosing to remember and reconnect with a segment of my life.

It seems selfish to keep all of these moments to myself, so each Sunday I'll plan on posting a Sunday Coffee Cup photo and story. Enjoy this inaugural post.

My Sister - Burp!

It was Christmas of 1999. I was just months past my departure from the ordained ministry, my spirit and my life still reeling from the trauma of personal burnout. Finances were bottomed out. I was working my first 'sales' job and beginning what would become a new career chapter. It was one of those life moments when all I had of certainty and peace was each emotion filled moment, each small rational choice and a tenuous faith that somehow God would see me through.

The trip to Myrtle Beach, SC for our extended family Christmas gathering was tentative, lacking in joy and confidence. There wer to be few gifts given, few life accomplishments to celebrate. Enter my sister.

My sister is, and mostly has been throughout her life, a mess. Sometimes that 'mess' was of the playful, mischievous childhood variety of 'mess.' A mess you find yourself admiring for tenacity, boldness and undaunted determination. Sometimes my sister's 'mess' was more of the personal life catastrophe variety. Bad choices, bad timing, bad comrades and all in the worst possible order. Mt sister was going through a 'mess' of the second variety in 1999. She was, simply put, in worse shape than I was - at least it looked like it from the outside looking in.

That year, my sister took the time and a few of her very limited dollars and bought me a Christmas present. She gave me a perfectly selected mug. When I unwrapped it, the crass imprint on the outside and the playful lettering inside the rim gave me pause. The I felt a giggle forming deep inside, a giggle that begin to bubble up into a joyous laugh.

Now, years and gallons of coffee later, I still cherish this bold, playful, timely and loving gift. It makes my Sunday cup of coffee perfect. Thanks Sis!

I miss hiking...

Word Wednesday - Cosmology

Definition of cosmogony: theory or story of the origin and development of the universe, the solar system, or the earth-moon system.


Cosmology - more inclusive than the magazine, vast as the humor of Bill, and harder to consume than the drink... It is all about location, location, location.

A Poem About Friendship

No Space Among Us

words anxiously spoken

falling upon one another

incessant

cascade

                full

pounding down

rocky words

after a while the constant sound

is

numbing

speech without pause

between thoughts

leaving

no gap for new ideas

reminding us of the precious

gems

of silence

between friends

________________________

Award Notice

Thank You to The Poetry Palace for the Perfect Poet Award, Week 54.

I nominate Paige for the next award.

Four Little Pills

I read today about a suicide. Sometimes I imagine. Some of those times I write.

Colors fade to hues of gray, leaving me amazed at the simplicity of things in this moment. No more pain. No more clarity. Just shades, numbness. I see my hands, foreign members of my fading self. Grasping at nothing, except for memories of the lines of your absent face. I reach for the gentle curve of your chin, to cradle you in the crest of my hand. Once more. As everything else fades, you remain, lasting, clinging to my being while all falls...empty, a fluttering shadow. You are the last to go. You are the last remaining remnant of life, you and my pain of losing you. In the end, it is the last of life that I know, you...you giving way finally to those four little pills.

Word Wednesday - Exquisite

ex·quis·ite/ekˈskwizit/

Adjective: Extremely beautiful and, typically, delicate.

Exquisite - with the very moistness of your clearly articulated sound, so defined and delicately precise, she was, we were, it was exquisite.

Quotable

"It is requisite for the relaxation of the mind that we make use, from time to time, of playful deeds and jokes."

-Thomas Aquinas

Surprising Naked Clicks

I just visited a favorite blog of mine and found nothing but content inviting me to porn.

There is a very popular blog I've followed for a few years maintained by a snarky, humorous and creative woman. I visit there occasionally. The blog has thousands of followers.

Today I went there only to discovery that the entire blog - content, ads, photos - had been taken over by advertisements for porn sites!

The aggravating thing is that I don't know if the author sold out, or let the domain expire only to have it picked up by an adult industry cyber squatter. Either way, a very good blog is gone.

Sometimes I hate the Internet.

Announcing Word Wednesday

Starting this week, I'll be adding a weekly themed post, Word Wednesday, to Kim's Korner.

The post will focus on a fun word (perhaps commonly known, but seldom used), the definition and some playful writing based on the understanding or misunderstanding of that word!

I hope you will join us for Word Wednesday - starting this week!

An Evening With Donald Davis - Share It!

Donald Davis is a storyteller. He is such an impressive weaver of tales that PBS featured him in their 5 part series "What's Your Story?"  With all of the emphasis on digital connections and online brevity of communication, I personally seek the continued experience of good ole verbal communication. The apex of this is a good story.

Mr. Davis will welcome your presence at a BBQ dinner and evening of stories at 6:30 p.m. on October 24th at the Kernersville Library, in Kernersville, NC. You can come and I hope you will join me there.

You need to call 336-703-2930 (no, you can;t RSVP online. you have to actually talk with someone. imagine that) to reach the Library and let them know you are coming. You can pay by cash or check at the door. The cost for dinner and a memorable evening of storytelling is $15.00.

Let me know if you are coming! Hope to see you there!

NOTE: Want to learn some more about the art of storytelling? Check out the folks at the National Storytelling Network!

Two Things I Hate

1. That the workers throw the emptied recycle bin into the curb and crack, chip and smash it into pieces.

2. That the small bag of garbage in the bottom of my city "roll to the curb" can has been left in there to rot for 3 weeks now because the worker doesn't care to put forth the effort to reach in and lift it out.

Rant ended.

The Gut of It - A Thought in Stanzas

Get to the gut of it, that tight, twisting, acidic scream of the belly
There you will find you and the you that longs to be more
Pain demands change...limits, contorts and defines

She always loved me, to a fault
When it hurt inside I could depend on her, her compliments, her advocacy, her mothering
The pain would always go, run out with laughter or perspective, or distraction

It's not her fault I could never love myself, to a fault

There is the gut of it
Loving oneself through the faults

London Underground

"Mind the Gap!" We heard these words of warning countless times as we rode the Underground, the Tube - the London Subway.

Here are a couple of happy travelers!

Steve Jobs - More Than Apple

Apple announced this evening that Steve Jobs, former CEO had died. The announcement was here http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ and quickly spread like proverbial wildfire across the Internet and social media venues.

Fame often dulls our perception of people. We remember, rightfully so, the accomplishments and recognition that earned such fame. What occurs to me, what haunts me when famous people die is the difficulty we have remembering their humanity, their likeness to our own lives. Fame may, as no doubt it will with Steve Jobs, write about the famous in the books of history and achievements. Fame will proclaim the greatness of those so deemed. Yet, fame will never remind us that our human life, no matter how large or unknown, has - each and every one - ultimate value and beauty.

We live. We breathe. We learn. We try. We fail. We succeed.

For me, the greatest miracle is that a human life can grow, learn and adapt - overcome and flourish in it's own particular beauty. We each live our momentary existence in relationship to others, our specific challenges, our own life lessons. So, it is important for me to remember that Steve Jobs was a human being, an amazing human being - nothing more and nothing less.

This is also true of you, right now. I hope you are fully aware of this truth. You have a particular beauty.

Big Ben is a Bell

Travel is always educational. I enjoy the way seeing and experiencing different parts of our world expands my knowledge and understanding. I recently returned from 6 days in the United Kingdom (also known as England).

Some of the things I learned:

1. Londoners say "mind" instead of "watch out for." So if they say "Mind the doors" on the Underground, it is to keep a traveler from having an unfortunate encounter with something like...say... having his backpack caught half way in/out of the Underground Train. Just saying.

2. When moving through crowded spaces, Londoners say "Sorry" when we are likely to say "Excuse me."

3. Trash or litter is "Rubbish."

4. Big Ben is the large bell (not the clock) in the 320' clock tower in London and weighs 13+ tons.

Lonely As A Cloud...

The poet, Wordsworth, spent a good deal of time here in the area of England known as The Lake District. His words capture the quaint, bucolic British landscapes and the impact of such beauty on the spirit.

"I wandered lonely as a cloud,
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze"

-Wordsworth

By the Thames

There is something so profoundly enchanting about an evening by the Thames.