Another transition!

Having a cup of coffee every morning along with Anna, has been a habit of over forty years! 

Now I brew the coffee for Anna, having been forced to quit drinking coffee to avoid the aggravation of tinnitus in one ear!

A cup of coffee early in the morning brought shared time between us to begin the day in quietness and prayer! 

It is yet another transition I face with the advancing age! 

What stays with me now is gladness and delight in the wellness and health which come as a gift to cherish !A sense of contentment and gratitude remains as the inner ambience. 

The loss gets subsumed by the opportunity and invitation to live restfully and hopefully!

I visited the two coffee seed shops recently from whom I got different brands of roasted seed varieties for the last 13 years since coming to live in our cottage. Both the shops offered different brands of coffee seeds. That provided us a taste of different brands of coffee procured from different parts of the world. They became fascinated by our habit of relishing coffee! When I mentioned that my visits would be infrequent from now on, they looked disappointed. 

I recollect an incident in 1983, when Anna and I relocated in Chennai to begin the Child Development Centre. The location of the CDC was next to the Das Prakash hotel at Egmore on the Ponnamale high road. I remember the first time Anna and I went into the restaurant to taste the coffee, which was considered the best in Chennai at that time. They had an air conditioned coffee room where no food or snacks were served. The moment we entered the room, we breathed in the aroma of coffee in the air. When the waiter brought the coffee in a china cup with frothy coffee, the aroma became even more distinct. It tasted rich and different! It was a treat to visit that restaurant for coffee! The restaurant specialised in South Indian coffee but served another twenty different types of coffee. 

It was from that time on, we developed a taste for freshly brewed coffee. Later with the gift of a grinder we received, we started grinding the seeds each morning to brew the coffee. I am glad that we can still brew coffee although, it would be hot water for me instead of coffee ! I feel grateful for all that transpired in our conversations around a cup of coffee!

What I want to remember and cherish when I bid farewell to the regular habit of coffee in the morning, is the shared times Anna and I have had over these years around a cup of coffee. This will continue because the longing of our hearts for each other is a growing experience!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)