Comfort... Pure Comfort

Comfort... Pure Comfort
By Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka Granny Gee

Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka Granny Gee

Coffee...  I am sitting here at my desk.  Guess what is sitting 'on' my desk?  You guessed it... it's a big, old, hot cup of coffee.  I'm not even a coffee-drinker... I can take it ... leave it.

Do you know what I love about coffee?  The heat... warmth... coziness... most of all, the 'pure comfort' of holding a hot cup of coffee in my hands.  I know you are seeing in your minds as you read... looking back to the times when you became aware of enjoying your coffee the most.  You are thinking about the taste, of course... but, I know you are remembering how comforting it felt to hold that cup in your hands.  It was warm, soothing, special ... all the way to your soul.

There are those times that coffee can 'mean the whole world'.  The warmth of it 'really does' reach to your very soul, comforts you where nothing else does.  It's true... I know of one of those times when... nothing else could reach me, but... holding a hot cup of coffee in my hands did.

Our home had burned down... we lost everything.  It happened several days after Christmas in 2004.  We lived in a 200 year old house, historical house.  The man should have changed the wiring, was told to do so... he didn't.  He just placed a new box on the outside of the house... and went on about his business.  We learned from him that he did that... when we had asked about something.  He told us what he'd done, and that all was okay.  We were friends with him.  We never paid attention... everything was fine... we loved it there.

I'll never forget that day, though I see it through a fog in my mind.  I was leaving the house early that morning, I told Skip I'd see him in about a hour.  I was going to exercise. As I began to go out the back door, my attention was caught by a 'red glow'... I looked back across the room to the window.  That's the moment our life 'went to hell'... I cried, "Skip"!

That night we were put in a motel, along with our three Pups.  We were in a deep shock at all that happened that day.  Skip had almost got lost in the burning house.. he went back in to retrieve his billfold, and the only money we had.  He had several areas on his skin that had been burned.

A neighbor's voice led him out... I was on the other side of the house... grabbing each Pup (they were full-grown Pups, one being a huge Rottweiler).  I grabbed one up at a time, took it through the gate, and put it in my Expedition.  I did that 3 times, I saved our dogs.  Skip and I were never aware of what the other was experiencing.

I did feel the pain through my shock, and I did feel the weight of each Pup.  I'd had two surgeries several years prior.. it didn't take much to make me go into pain.  I live in pain every moment of my life... to this day.  It's my trade-off to live... you won't hear me complain.  I remember for a brief moment, asking myself 'can I carry these big pups to safety'?  I never thought anymore, I ... did carry them to safety.

At the motel that night, I opened a box our friend, Ms Nancy, had given us.  It was a Mr. Coffee Maker, and a canister of Folger's coffee, jar of creamer, 2 coffee cups.  I went to the sink, filled the carafe with water... I don't remember truthfully if I 'ran the water through the first time' before making the coffee.  Comfort... comfort, comfort was what I was seeking in my shocked state of mind.

I made the coffee, sat at the table the Mr. Coffeemaker sat on, listened to the gurgling sound.  I could feel in my mind that the sound was calming me.  It was a familiar, happy sound... one that most of us recognize.  Finally, the coffee was made...

I poured the coffee in both ceramic cups.  I gave Skip his cup.  I sat down, became lost in the inner storm in my mind.  I was lost in a fog, seeing fleeting images from the day.  I felt panic inside... what are we going to do?  How will we come out of this?  Thank-God, Skip and the Pups are safe!  Thoughts like lightening bolts were shooting through my mind... my heart thumping like thunder.  I was in turmoil... though to Skip, I think I looked calm, though my hands trembled as I held the hot cup of coffee.

The coffee!  Through my mind's storm... I began to feel... comfort.  I began to search for it through the fog... my mind slowly became aware of warmth... it was coming from my hands, warming me inside... finally reaching my... soul.  I held onto it, like a person reaching out for a lifesaver, finding it, holding on tight.

I sat there, for the first time in my life (I've never been a big coffee-drinker, though... the idea always seemed 'romantic')... for the first time in my life, I understood 'why' people loved coffee.  I, not only understood, I was at that very moment, experiencing 'why' coffee was so important to people.  That was when coffee became 'forever' important in my life.  Comfort... pure comfort.