A Life Enriched by Coffee not Chocolate

I have much to be grateful for....

I have decided that I need to write a gratitude journal. It will be a chronicle of all the people in my life and of all the random things in my daily existence of whom or of which I am eternally grateful. The symbol above is the symbol of gratitude. If you are the subject of this post, I offer it to you with an abiding and heartfelt thank you for gracing my life.

I have been living the wonderful life. I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to practice what is illusively called “work/life balance”. I am studying and loving it. I am teaching and loving it. I am being a Mom and a Grandma and a Wife and loving it. I am making just enough money to cover my vices and loving it. I am deliberately choosing where to spend my time and attention and loving it. I am not worrying about billable hours; or what time I might get home tonight; or whether I have enough underwear to last me to the next mandatory laundry date; or the eighty other thousand things on my to-do list. More importantly, I can concentrate on the things that draw me into the circle of why I am here -- the unrequited dreams on my bucket list.

Many of you have commented on my writing style and my story-telling ability. For that I thank you. Quite often, something is delivered into my life that says it more poignant and tellingly than ever I could. This story came to me this week and, although it may be somewhat secular (so, substitute your “God”), I want to share it with you:

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups...And then you began eyeing each other's cups.

Now consider this: Life is the coffee, the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of Life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee that has been provided to us."

God brews the coffee, not the cups. "The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything." Live simply, Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Enjoy your coffee!

A thing well said is a thing enough said.

See you at Tim Horton’s. I'll buy you the coffee; paper cups only.