Sometimes things change and you have to say goodbye to things you love. This happened to me recently and I want to tell you all about it.
A few years ago at Christmas time DH’s brother and his wife (the outlaws) gave us a joint gift. It was two mugs – one saying ‘Princess’ (that was for me) and the other ‘Stud’ (for DH – unless we got them the wrong way around, but I’m pretty sure that was the way it was supposed to go).
Every morning, despite the fact that he hates even the smell of it, DH gets up and makes me a morning coffee and he makes himself a cup of tea (this probably shows just how rubbish I am without a coffee in the morning!). And for years, we have used the Princess and Stud mugs for our morning drinks. A coffee in this mug probably counts as a cup and a half but it’s what my body needs to get going in the morning and I really, really, really appreciate it! We sit in bed and drink our hot drinks and chat and read the bible and then we are ready to get going. It takes a while to drink that much, so it’s a nice gentle start to the day.
For a few months, when we were between houses (a long and complicated story), we stayed with my parents. We were so grateful to them for having us and we enjoyed our stay, but (and I’m not sure I’ve told them this) there was a bit of a struggle in the mornings. Their mugs were just too small! I missed my Princess mug. I grieved for my Princess mug. I only got half a cup of coffee in the morning, it never quite lasted long enough, and I had to get out of bed far too quickly! After three months we moved into our new house and could unpack all of our boxes and look at all of our old belongings. I had expected that I would find a whole lot of stuff that I realised (through the time without it) that I didn’t want anymore and that I could throw it away or give it away, but (and I’m not sure how materialistic this makes me) I loved unpacking all our stuff, and I positively rejoiced when I found my Princess mug!
It has been knocked about over the years, it’s had a chip in it for quite some time now, so you had to be careful how you drank out of it. But it was still serving its purpose, we were still using it, I was still enjoying the morning coffee.
But all good things must come to an end. A couple of days ago the coffee lid got dropped (I won’t say who by!) and the cup got chipped again and, well, it just would have not been fun to drink out of anymore. It had to go.
DH knew I would be sad. He left the mug out on the kitchen bench so that I could say my goodbyes and throw it out when I was ready. It took a couple of days (and a few photos) but eventually the mug moved to the bin. I’ve said my goodbyes. It’s over.
The good thing is that last Christmas my niece decorated another very large mug for each of us. So I have a new mug now – it has an R on it for Ruth (my name, in case you didn’t know) and it keeps me in bed for a nice long time each morning as I sip my large cup of coffee. I will survive, I will go on, and I will always remember my Princess mug.
P.S. A funny thing: if you hold the Stud mug up to the mirror, it says butS!