Mugs Musing

I have noticed -- I am hardly ashamed to admit this -- that my favorite dishes tend to be my mugs. For those of you who know me (and if you're reading this, I hope you do ...), this is hardly surprising. Coffee, and its many vessels, is very nearly the love of my life. Tea is a close runner-up, and since it is similarly drunk from a mug, I embrace it with enthusiasm.

My latest favorite mug stands as evidence that mothers -- though they claim to love every painting and drawing, every hand imprint or pottery project that their child may ever bring home -- really can't wait for the day that Little Johnny moves out ... because they can then sell or throw away all the art projects that have been collecting since kindergarten.

I was clueless at first to the origins of my new beverage-holder. I found it during my last trip to Gillette, when I generously decided to unburden my parents' storage shed of some (more) of my many, many books. There, on a shelf, with a 25-cent garage sale sticker still stuck to it, sat a beautiful earthenware mug, with a large, graspable handle, the whole mug consisting of varying shades of brown.

It was love at first sight. I could immediately picture our future together -- a love that would grow over time, over coffee, over tea.

I love this mug.

I told my mother that I was adopting the mug, and I took the blank look on her face to mean that she had completely forgotten about it (I was horrified that this could happen). Not to mention that there was no space in her cupboards for this homeless mug. I was only too happy to toss it in my car, take it home, clean it up and christen it as soon as possible with a cup of coffee.

I love this mug.

It was while I was washing it the second tme that I saw it -- with a toothpick or a very fine-tipped tool, my beloved mug's maker had marked this work of art: "Scott Richins, 4/14/83."

And Little Scotty's mother had sold what was likely a Mother's Day gift for 25 cents at a garage sale.

Poor mug.

It has a home now -- it nests in my Quaker Oatmeal bowls -- and it seems quite content. We both are. As I write this, it's serving me large quantities of soy chai latte ...

I love this mug.