I have a favorite place to have my morning mug of coffee.
It’s not in a coffee shop with a fancy latte. It’s not snuggled on my couch, warm and cozy. It’s a half drank cup of lukewarm coffee, in my PJs and bedhead, while standing outside of my officer’s patrol car window just as he comes home in the mornings.
My officer pulls into the driveway, our dog hears the garage door open, and we head outside to see the person we’ve been missing since he left the night before. I feel relief, because he’s made it home in one piece. I feel comfort, because even though this isn’t how most couples spend their mornings together, it’s how we spend ours, and it’s special and familiar. I feel encouraged, because he’s made it through another shift and that means I can make it through another day.
Sometimes he comes into the house right away. Sometimes I take his lunchbox in and begin unpacking it and putting pieces in the dishwasher. Sometimes he has paperwork to do and I lean up against his patrol car door, asking about his night and telling him about mine. And sometimes it’s been a rough shift, and I quietly get into the passenger seat and simply sit there, sipping my coffee and just BEING there with him.
As a blue family our mornings (and days, and lives) look different than most other people’s. I sleep alone most of the time. We don’t get a lot of dinners together. We reschedule a lot of holidays. But it’s the little things like this-like making the most out of a half full cup of coffee together-that strengthen our marriage and fill my heart.
Whatever our mornings look like that day, and whatever nights we’ve came from, I know it’s going to be a good day once I have that cup of coffee in my favorite, comfortable place. It’s no cozy coffee shop and it’s no perfectly steamed cappuccino, but those cups of coffee-and the company they contain-are perfect to me 💙☕️
