Apparently, I’m not the only one who develops an unnatural affection for objects. Sure, I love people and places. But it’s the things that I often get sentimental about.
Like my HELLO mug.
This mug is special to me because I found it at Marshalls on a shelf. Sitting all by its lonesome self. It didn’t have any other matching mugs nearby. It was its own mug, kind of like me: independent, different, unique, with a really wide bottom.
It might have even been on clearance which only made it more attractive to me.
But then tragedy struck one morning this week. As I was pouring my boiling water for my regular morning cup of strong black tea, I heard a sound like ceramic cracking. My mug looked okay but then I noticed the smallest, faintest hairline crack. And I knew it was over.
I held the mug over the sink to assess the damaged and the weakly flavored tea water began seeping through the mug. I dumped the water and placed it in the trash.
I couldn’t quite let go. So I tweeted about it. I had to let the internet world know that my favorite mug was gone and I felt sad about it.
Apparently, a lot of you have the same kind of mug attachments. I felt a kind of kinship with the mug lovers of the world and I dug that HELLO mug right back out of the trash so I could give it a proper send off.
H is for the help that you’ve give me for years. Each morning, as I tried to convince myself that I could become a morning person with enough practice, you helped me realize that I couldn’t. And that a nice cup of strong black tea would help me with that realization.
E is for every morning that you were there for me. Except for the mornings when you weren’t. Like when you were dirty and the dishwasher hadn’t been run. Or worse… when my husband snagged you for a cup of coffee (blasphemy!)
L is for the lovely letters that adorned your front. The elegant fonts and designs juxtapositioned against a clean white design is part of what attracted me to you in the first place. It’s how I justified your purchase when I knew I didn’t need another damn mug.
The second L is for the loss I feel now that you are buried deep in the trashcan. I have other mugs but they’re just not the right shape and size. They don’t have the sturdy bottom. And most of them are riddle with stains on the inside.
O is for Oh, how will I find another one like you? I guess the only way is to go back to Marshalls and do a little shopping.
Yes. Yes, that’s it.
I need to go shopping for a new mug! One that will bring me a new sense of joy every morning. One that will not turn its back on me and crack simply from a little boiling water. You know, the stuff it was designed to hold.
So I bid you adieu, HELLO mug. I say GOODBYE to you. Fare thee well. And may the random inventory of Marshalls on any given day hold a mug that is meant to be mine. Until that one cracks too.
