Talismans
I have a coffee mug that I have carried around with me for 36 years now - I bought it when I was 16, pregnant, scared and setting out on my own. It was one of 4 that I selected oh so carefully at my neighborhood TG&Y to be a part of the dishes, etc that would make up my little kitchen supplies. The other 3 vanished, I don't know when, but this one has been carried from house to house, lover to lover for all those years - I call it my "I'm still standing" cup. I drank from it when my first serious relationship ended, when my mother died, when we lost our beloved Mama Alma. Over the years, when I didn't know how I could take one more moment of grief and loss and fear, there it was. I wrapped it carefully and put it in my evacuation bag for Katrina and then put it in the safety deposit box in Alexandria that KO and I rented to keep our Grandmother's jewelry. It sat there until I was really convinced that we were okay again. 36 years of sorrow and strength are all wrapped up in that 69 cent mug. Today, I drank from it again - happenstance actually, because there wasn't another clean coffee cup in the house and my girl brought me my morning coffee in it. Maybe sychronicity too, because my heart is again broken by greed, carelessness, destruction. I am reminded again how precious our beautiful coast and our amazing way of life is and how strong and lucky we are to live and love here...