This has been my favorite coffee cup for almost 12 years. My husband bought it for me while we were on our honeymoon. It’s cute, isn’t it? This cup belongs to a person who has time to wrap two hands around a sweet little mug of something warm and leisurely sip its contents. The owner fills it up with tea because *gasp* she doesn’t even care for coffee. The owner is someone who can stay up as late as she wants because she can sleep in as late as she wants. This person showers every day and never shows up somewhere smelling like bodily fluids.

Ah, let’s all take a moment and remember those days.

Okay, let’s move on.

*****

This cup belongs to someone who still enjoys a little pretty in her life. It has to have a handle because there is always a baby on her hip and her hot beverage drinking for here ever after will have to be one handed. It is dainty and delicate because little hands are not yet reaching and grabbing and wreaking havoc. This cup says that she is a little busier than before but, still, completely in control.

*****

A year or two goes by and another kid or two joins the crew. The owner of this cup realizes that dainty doesn’t cut it. A sturdier cup is needed. It can still be cute but, for crying out loud, it needs to hold more of that precious caffeine. She has decided there is definitely something to this coffee thing and mocks people who drink tea.

This is the kind of cup that gets reheated multiple times and left in various places around the house. This cup becomes a friend. A confidant. A faithful sidekick in the midst of crying babies and potty training toddlers. Yes, the owner loves this cup.

*****

Then, kids four and five arrive. There is no time for pretty or breakable or reheats or refills. This woman needs her coffee ever warm and ever ready. It is the kind of cup a girl guzzles from because ain’t nobody got time for sippin’. She needs a cup that is as comfortable in the kitchen as it is in the car. It needs to go to the grocery store, to archery practice, to the park and to the bathroom. Yes, the bathroom. Any port in a storm, baby.

*****

Then, the coffee drinker reaches a point where she no longer cares which cup she drinks out of anymore. Possibly, on a random Friday morning, her desk looks a little something like this.

As she sits down, maybe she notices a little cold, leftover coffee in yesterday’s cup. Perhaps she chugs it down before starting the new cup. Unless you think that’s really gross because, then, we will just pretend she doesn’t do that.

These coffee mugs belong to a master multitasker who can feed a baby with her left hand and drink her coffee with her right while teaching the four year old her ABCs and typing out a blog post about coffee cups. She plays La La Loopsies while doing the laundry and teaches division while changing diapers.

Never get between a woman and her coffee.

****

What does your coffee cup say about you?