Fill My Cup

With all that is good - My Sunday Best #54

I can still taste the water from the canteen I carried backpacking in the high sierras as a child. I sat on a rock and took small sips. I learned the hard way that big gulps would result in a side ache. The taste of metal and the feeling of the cold water in my mouth was so refreshing—a life-sustaining drink. Back then, I filled my canteen with the garden hose. Drinking water from a single-use plastic bottle wasn’t even a thing—if it was, I didn’t know about it yet. The water in that canteen was the best water I’d ever tasted—at least, that’s how I remember it. Since then, life experience has taught me all sorts of things about different kinds of water and tiny creatures that hide out in garden hoses. I would have to be pretty thirsty to drink from one now—I know too much.

One thing I’m sure about is that to drink anything, there has to be a way to hold it in, a container. And it can’t be just any container. For instance, I have a favorite coffee cup with a mermaid on the front and a cloud with the outline of Neptune, the Roman god of freshwater and the sea. It says, “Live the life you imagine” on the inside rim. I love drinking out of this cup.  It makes whatever I put inside taste better. I bought it at a little shop in Maryland last year. I’ve had other special coffee cups through the years. Some were beautiful handmade pottery pieces. Others were china cups my grandmother used to have, thin with intricate flowers painted on them. None of the cups matched, which required a weighty decision in choosing the right one.

I’ve never been one for travel mugs. Instead, I take my mermaid cup with me and carefully balance it in the cupholder of the car, although it doesn’t quite fit. I’ve spilled more than one cup of coffee this way—to no one’s surprise. The coffee-stained seats in our vehicles are proof. That doesn’t stop me. There’s something about drinking from my favorite cup that is worth the risk. Wrapping my hands around a warm cup of coffee while watching the sunrise is a morning ritual that wouldn’t be the same without a beautiful cup.

My cup preference is not just relegated to hot drinks. I also have my favorite cup I refill with water throughout the day. As of a week ago, it was a tall clear glass with colorful etched artwork that featured the state of Tennessee. I’ve been drinking from it for years, but last week I accidentally dropped it for the last time. When I was little, I remember drinking orange juice from tiny little glasses with oranges painted on them. Once again, that was at my grandma’s house. In the summer, when it’s hot, I like to drink out of the colorful tin cups that make everything taste a little colder. I can even hold it up against my forehead to cool off. Plastic just isn’t the same.

Containers all have one thing in common, they are designed to hold something—form and function. From baskets, cups, and bags to hours, days, and years, containers are evident in every part of life. We are constantly filling and emptying, receiving and pouring out. Even the sunrise and sunset hold the hours in between.

This time of year, when I step outside, there are new buds and flowers every day. When I return from walking Dennis, I feel my spirit has been filled with beauty and awe. It fills my cup with all that is good.

“I almost wish we were butterflies and lived but three summer days—three such days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty common years could ever contain.” John Keats

Today, we are driving to Echo Bluff State Park for the solar eclipse on Monday. In 2017, we had the privilege of being in the pathway of totality. The experience was surreal. We played our music for a crowd scattered on the hills of Illinois wine county. The setting was beautiful. As the sky gradually darkened, we stopped playing, and a hush fell over the crowd. Not even a bird chirped. It seemed as though time stopped and every creature on earth paused to stand in awe of the power of nature. There was unity like nothing I’ve ever experienced. I’m expecting nothing less this time. I know it will be different. It’s a different time and place. I’ve been carefully considering what songs to sing before and after. Maybe John Denver’s Sunshine on My Shoulders would be a nice way to bring the music back in. We’ll see what happens.

In the meantime, I think I’ll pour a second cup of coffee.

And I did write a song called Fill My Cup ☕️