Visiting over Coffee

 

Can you meet me for coffee today? A couple of my friends and I enjoy getting together for “coffee” on occasion. Except, none of us drink coffee. That’s okay though, our favorite coffee shop makes marvelous drink, Italian Soda. I have no idea what’s in it, it is topped with whipped cream, I just know it’s good, and full of calories. But that’s okay, it’s also a cold drink, which is fine for summer, but not for winter. In the winter, I have tea. They have a wonderful selection.

Of course, we generally have a biscotti while we’re there. Would you like one?

When you and I have coffee, the first thing I will do is breathe deep and inhale the intoxicating aroma of your coffee. I may not drink it but I love the smell. Go figure.

What can I tell you? I’m not planning any travels in the near future. Although I would love to hear about your trips, either those planned, or your recent experience. Laurel over at Alphabet Soup, who gave me the idea for this little coffee meet is planning a trip to Italy. It will be so fun to hear about it when she returns.

I take it back. I have traveled recently. The drive was only forty-five minutes, but we traveled back in time to see the dinosaurs.

We, are me and my cousins Jared and Teresa. Jared is my second cousin,(I think) and his mother Teresa, is my cousin by marriage and my friend by choice.

Jared has special needs and we had a wonderful time “visiting” with the dinosaurs. He got to pet a baby dinosaur and bought a dinosaur shirt.

 My favorite picture of the day is one I don’t have a copy of. It is a picture of Jared sitting on a dinosaur, yes it is photo shopped. The best part though, they also took out his wheelchair. Jared has often made comments about something he’d do, or would like to do if he could. However, it’s something well out of his reach. To have a picture of him “doing” something he enjoys with no wheelchair in sight is fantastic to me.

After visiting the dinosaurs we went to one of the three Italian restaurants in Krebs, a nearby town. Krebs is known, at least in Oklahoma, as Little Italy. Anyone who visits wants to eat at one of those three places. I think the food is more Italian/American than authentic Italian, but it’s still unique and tasty.

Thanks to Laurel Regan at Alphabet Soup, for having coffee with her readers this morning and giving me this idea. This post is part of the Ultimate Blog Challenge.

What would you tell me if we had coffee?

What is your favorite hot beverage?

Have you traveled recently?

Please let me know in the comments. I love visiting with you.

In The Eye of the Beholder

“Beauty is in the eye of the holder.” How many times have we heard that, or repeated it to our daughters? It is true, but does saying it tell our daughters they aren’t pretty except to those who love them?

Years ago, when families gathered to watch the Miss America Pagent, my father made the comment that I was fat. At the time I was 5’9 and had the same measurements as many of the pagent girls. When I told my father that, thinking that would make me, if not pretty, at least not fat.

No. His response, “They’re fat too.”

What? These girls were probably borderline anorexics, and he was calling them fat? Did their parents call them fat too? Did the directors of the pagent say they had to weigh a certain amount or they were fat? Probably.

Years later, after marriage and children, my family was watching the Miss America Pagent. My son commented, “They need to take those girls home and put some meat on their bones.”

He thought they were too skinny.  Two different opinions. Who do we listen to? We need to listen to God, who tells us we are perfect the weigh we are. Sure, some of us may need to drop a few (or more) pounds, but we aren’t our weight. Our size is just one part of who we are.

Yet, we often let our size define us. We are beautiful. We need to accept our beauty in whatever package it’s wrapped.

Stop.

This was my take on ‘beauty’ the Five Minute Challenge, issued by The Gypsy Mama. She spent this last week looking for beauty  and helping her readers find it. I took a slightly different take, and that’s what makes this challenge fun. Everyone has a different viewpoint and we all learn from sharing. To read what others said about beauty, stop by The Gypsy Mama and check out some of the beauty links.

What about you? Where do you look for beauty? Where do you find it? What’s beautiful to you? Feel free to share.