Sipping From Your Cup 'til it Runneth over...Holy Grail

It's just a mug I put down in front of my overly stressed out 16 year old daughter.  A mug full of cocoa and marshmallows.  It's just a mug I thought as she hugged me and finally smiled through her tears. But it wasn't really. I had chosen this mug specifically.  She saw exactly what that mug meant to me and knew I chose it just to make her feel better.

The mug I speak of was given to me by my best friend when I was moving away from home.  I was the first of our little group to move after college.  The first to fly the Glen Cove coup as it were, and move out to Chicago to be with my fiance.  When I was in the airport, getting ready to board my plane and heading towards my new life, Caramia gave me this

I have had this mug for over 27 years now.  It is so faded and beat up.  But it says "Don't Forget" on the outside and on the inside, it says "I love you".

My daughter asked me if I chose this mug on purpose, and I nodded yes.  The sentiment it was meant to convey was indeed conveyed and my motherly work was done once she sipped from it and calmed down.

I saw my friend who gave me said mug this weekend.  We went to a Billy Joel concert together, 

just like we did in high school when we won tickets from Z100.  Only this time the tickets were offered to me by her amazing family as part of a Mother's Day gift to her and we weren't sitting behind the stage either for that matter.  We waited from May for this weekend to come.  And as it is with all awesome things you wait for, it was over way too quickly.  

But it's as if time stood still.  We got together, picked up where ever it might have been we left off however many years ago.  From the time we were 16 until today.  Not a minute had passed.  We were exactly as we had always been.  We could have been sitting around her mom and dad's kitchen table. Or in my backyard in my pool.  Just being silly, laughing at everything and nothing, enjoying each other's company like we were at her house for lunch in between periods during high school.

It got me thinking.  It's almost like this mug is like our friendship.  We have been friends since we were 16 our friendship, and subsequently we, have been through so much just like this mug.  We are kind of battered and scratched up too but still extremely functional and strong. That mug has been through about 11 moves in it's lifetime with nary a crack, it's strong, just like we are.

So yes my dearest daughter, I did pick out this mug just for you tonight.  Like Caramia picked it out for me all of those years ago.  To take a little piece of her with me as I left, to hold on to when the going got rough or I just got lonely.  I gave it to you tonight.  To help ease your mind and frustration and comfort you when you read the words on it as it has for me for almost thirty years.

Really now, is this just a mug? I think not.  It has a magic all it's own.  

Just a mug? To me it is the Holy Grail of friendship.

Thank you Caramia for giving me this as a gift, and giving me the gift of your friendship all of these years.  Until we see each other again....