Courage and Coffee
I tried to start writing this post as my bother and I played a board game (I like multitasking). As I scribbled out the third attempt, Josef asked what I was doing. When I explained that it was my Reflection Sunday post he asked what it was going to be about. He snorted when I said, “Courage and coffee.” I didn’t know if I should be offended by his laughter. He explained, “No, it’s just that I was expecting you to say that you were writing about being sick… what you said went way deeper than I thought.”
It made me smile.
Last night I sat across from my mom—both of our noses running from summer colds and hands wrapped around hot mugs of tiramisu lattes. We were waiting for a friend to join us as we recapped the week. It’s been a busy and fun week with family visiting from out of town, and we haven’t had much time to sit and talk. And honestly, how often do we sit across from each other and dig into life? Not often enough.
When we get home from work, we both go to our own corners of the house and work on different projects. She goes down to paint in her studio and I go to my sewing machine or my computer to write. Even though we’re both tired from our full time jobs, we still go to our part time work at night.
Earlier in the day I delivered the quilt I made for my aunt. I designed this quilt from the beginning—I did the pattern, found the fabric, put together the top and quilted it. It was a big project, a fun project, and I learned a lot from the process. She gave me a card commending my courage to be creative. It hadn’t occurred to me that being creative was courageous.
Her words of encouragement struck a chord with me, one that would resonate through me for the rest of the day.
As I sipped coffee across from my Mom I saw how it took courage for her to dive back into her art. It took courage for her to hang her paintings in competitions and submit them to galleries.
I feel blessed to have a mom who models what courage and creativity looks like. She is always pushing herself (and me) to go outside the comfortable and into the daring world of art.
Sipping coffee, looking at a courageous woman, and realizing that two things can fuel creativity—courage and coffee.
