Coffee.

Somehow it always found me.  You would think that living on the road would carry limitations when it came to indulging in that most delicious of creations, the coffee bean.  Although we seemed to find ourselves in many a coffee shop while traveling, whether that be our performance space or a needed stop between the road and the next venue.  Of course where there’s a cafe there’s coffee.  Naturally.  For Jordan the drink of choice was chai tea or hot chocolate, but nonetheless, the essence is there; a hot drink in a cool mug to warm the body and bide the time.  Yum.

Books.

Jordan loves reading.  I do as well, but not to the same extent, nor for the same reason.  He loves to read for the benefit of gaining knowledge and igniting imagination.  When I read, my hope is to relax, but I simultaneously find myself actively seeking out insight and perspective.  Again, the difference is prevalent but the intent is equivalent; a paper touch in a soft chair to stimulate the mind and craft the time.  Delightful.

I am thankful for the words on a page and the drops in a cup.  I must be, for undoubtedly they made their way from frame to frame in my pile of stored memories.  In pulling each photograph meticulously from my digital stash of hundreds, no thousands, I find myself struck by the tone of each image.  As though coffee says something uniquely different within each context that it finds itself.  As though books help us see what speaks to the soul before even one page is turned.

If what is seen in each of these photographs, displayed for the sake of delighting in coffee and books, speaks to the human condition, then what exactly are they saying? Apart from an aroma and a story, what discernment can be found through coffee & books?  The question is on the table.  Your coffee table perhaps.