Writer's Notebook Time-Cups

Every now and then, I will slide something in from my Writer's Notebook. Please read the Creative Commons license at the bottom of this blog.

Cups

A cup stands for so many things in the life of a woman. At first, the cup is an empty vessel that catches all of the experiences that make a girl who she is. All of it goes into the cup--the first step, the first word, the first time she kissed Scotty Fitzgerald on the cheek in third grade and he wrote her that note:
"Would you be my girlfriend? Circle yes or no."

By the time she begins her journey into womanhood, a woman's cup has been emptied and refilled many times. For me, it is a lot like going into the kitchen to get a drink. I pour a glass of lemonade and take a sip. All I can taste is the sickening sweetness. So I pour it out. Maybe a cup of tea will do the trick. Nope, too bitter. Water? Too plain. It finally strikes me. What I need in my cup is warm, rich, soulful hot chocolate with a slightly sassy dash of mint syrup.
Hot chocolate can have its problems, I'll grant you that. It can get way too hot. I call it pissed- off hot chocolate. If you let it sit there for a nice long while, it gets cold. It grows this yucky dark film on top. You can tell just by looking at it that it doesn't have an ounce of life in it. Nothing.
By the time that any given woman decides which drink to put in her cup, the cup is used for something all together different. It becomes her heart. It holds love and passion. Sometimes the cup is so full that it starts pouring over the sides and onto the floor. Then again, sometimes the contents of the cup dry-up completely. All that is left in the cup is gunk. No one would dare to drink from it until it gets a good run through the dishwasher. It may have to sit in the dishwasher for a while, sort of basking amongst the crud. But, eventually the cup will arise from the top rack of the dishwasher fresh, clean, and ready to be filled once again.

Love comes in many liquid forms. Eventually most women end up settling on one. Maybe he is nothing more than a simple thirst quencher like water. Then again, maybe he is one of those drinks that should only be consumed in small amounts, like tequila. Or, maybe he is yummy, vibrant, and fun like cola. Yes, sometimes cola can get too flat or have a little too much fizz. But, for the most part, whether it is diet or regular, for me cola the is perfect drink.

After Mr. Cola and I settle in together, the cup gets to hold yet another liquid. The thought of combining hot chocolate and cola can be a little scary at first. But, once you get used to the idea, you realize that all you need to do is add a little heavy cream to the hot chocolate, churn it through an ice cream freezer, add a few scoops to the cola and wa-la! You have an interesting, chocolate-ice cream-Coke- float, a new and original creation. It tastes a little funny at first. The caffeine keeps you up pretty much all night. It can also be a little awkward putting a diaper on a float. But, eventually no matter what the truth really is, you and Mr. Cola end up thinking that the float is the most intelligent, gifted, and beautiful drink in the entire universe.

Now, once Mr. Coke and I make a few floats we will have many wonderful years as a happy family. We get so used to those floats being around. Eventually though, they will want cups of their own. So, no more fun, bubbly, weird floats except when they need Mrs. Hot Chocolate to do their laundry.

Now that Mrs. Hot Chocolate's cup is empty, she cries a lot. Especially when Mr. Coke talks about changing one of the floats rooms into a workout room. Mrs. Hot Chocolate thinks he is completely insensitive. But, alas, after a while the float's room becomes Mr. Mid-Life Crisis's pimped out exercise lair. And, life goes on. Mrs. Hot Chocolate begins filling her cup with new things--reading, gardening, and going to Chippendales with the other ladies. She goes on with her life, her cup becoming more chipped and well worn but still beautiful and distinctive. The contents of her cup will be slowly consumed with relish. And, one day the hot chocolate will be no more. But, her beautiful, well worn, empty cup will live on in a prominent spot in her granddaughter's china cabinet.