The Finally Opened Christmas Gift

So, one of the gifts my wife gave me last Christmas was a self-heating coffee mug. I had been wanting one after experimenting (and failing) with different-sized coffee cups to keep my morning joe warm. Yeah, I know. I'm Super exciting these days. Back in Albuquerque, my favorite local coffee shop to visit once a week was Castle Coffee. Just west of downtown near the original law offices that inspire the character Saul Goodman from Breaking Bad, Castle is this magical little community of progressive artists, internationals, and kindly souls (along with their dogs). It was my once-a-week little treat. My happy place. There at said happy place they occasionally had self-warming coffee mugs for sale up on a self. I couldn't help but stare at after I sat down to do my coffee drugs (aka caffeine).

There it was.

The pinnacle of human design and ingenuity.

Perpetually hot coffee.

Yet, somehow never did simply plop down the gold to buy it. So, like any other average American adult, I complained and whined about my lack of it until someone handed it to me for Christmas. But after all the presents had been opened, the breakfast ham had been feasted upon, and the wrapping had been balled up, thrown at nieces and nephews, then finally tossed, I had yet to actually unbox it.

In my defense, we were moving soon. Life was crazy... I invented more excuses until I'm fairly sure we both forgot about it. Until today. Now it sits beside me, having ascended to its rightful place at my left hand (I'm mostly ambidextrous) happily regulating the heat of my locally-roasted, french-pressed coffee courteously delivered to my doorstep by the wonderful folks at Second Breakfast here in Hannibal, Missouri. I just took a sip.

MMMMM... delayed gratification.

The real question here, I think, is why did I wait so long to use something I obviously enjoy?

While it wasn't necessarily by choice or anything, I have a sneaking suspicion that timing truly is everything. The right thing at the right time, you know? And so, now today I share this little moment of perfection and harmony in the truly vast and wide universe we inhabit. See? These things do happen. They are good and right and dare I also add... delicious.

Everyone needs a cozy read for their hot coffee. In the midwest, you can support wonderfully talented local indie bookstores etc and purchase my books at Java Jive in Hannibal, Main Street Books in St Charles, and soon at The Spine Bookstore in St Louis. In Albuquerque, support Organic Books, Titlewave Books, Revised, and of course Castle Coffee (Tell the lovely folks working there that Ryan P Freeman says hi!). If you must, you can also get them HERE and HERE too.