souvenir cups, too

"I guess I shouldn't complain too much about the big plastic souvenir cups," I said to myself as I unloaded the dishwasher and put my coffee cup away.

1. My Waffle House cup - This cup reminds me of a road trip to Orlando with my family and the first time we ever experienced Waffle House in Georgia. And of Saturday breakfasts in Kansas City. And Mother's Day in Ohio. Yes, it was my Mother's Day request.

2. Beijing cup - This cup was given to me by my dad, who goes there frequently. It reminds me of him and of the Chinese church.

3. My 'Hope' cup - This cup reminds me of my hairdresser in Richfield, Barb. She was always giving me freebies that she'd gotten. This cup she gave to me at a time when I really needed Hope.

4. My Swedish cup - Every good Minnesotan needs to have a Swedish cup. And every good Swede gets their Swedish cups at Ingebretsons on Lake Street in Minneapolis. It's sort of the Swedish Mecca.

5. My Nancy H. cup from Ellen - Made by Nancy H. and given to me by a good friend Ellen, from Jostens. Ellen became a Christian while I worked at Jostens and became a sweet friend. We got to know Nancy and her late husband, Joe, who died of AIDS, at church in Burnsville. Joe spoke to JDs sociology classes about the reality of living with AIDS.

6. Grandpa Nelson's cup - I bought this cup for Grandpa Nelson's Slunka Time when he lived with us in Albany, NY. The outside says "I love you" and the inside bottom says "a lot." It makes me think of him.

7. Mac's Cafe cup - Our downtown Rochester place to get gyros.

8. My cup from Somewhere in Eastern Europe - This cup reminds me of our family's trips to Eastern Europe. It may be from Hungary. I'm not sure because I don't think that originally it was mine. I just never returned it to mom. (I needed a souvenir cup.)

9. My Seattle Cup - My mom took me "anywhere I wanted to go" for my 30th birthday. I chose Seattle. This cup reminds me of that trip. It says "Smile at the Rain." I like that philosophy.

10. My "Mom" cup - John chose this cup for me at the school Christmas store when he was in Kindergarten. He was so excited that he'd chosen something all by himself that he knew I'd like. How did he know I'd like a coffee cup?!

11. The Germany cup - From Kaitlin's Oma Trip, summer 2009 to Germany.

12. The Mt. Vernon cup - Our first trip out to see my parents in Washington DC we visited George Washington's home, Mt. Vernon. It was beautiful and very interesting. Of course we needed a coffee cup.

13. The Washington DC Starbucks cup - It had pictures of all the monuments. Johnny insisted we get it. He liked the monuments.

14. My Paris cup - From John's Oma Trip, summer 2008 to Paris.

15. My Alfred NY cup - We lived in Alfred, NY for two summers when we were with AIA. Alfred is known for it's pottery and so I had to get an Alfred piece. This cup I got while on an art seeking mission with two of the baseball players. We stumbled onto this sculptor guy's studio and got a rare tour. It was a pretty fun memory for me.

16. Our Vancouver cup - Our 15 year anniversary trip to Vancouver.

17. The Salvation Army Ovamaltine cup - One of the funnest times on Kaitlin's Oma Trip was when we were at a little cafe in Switzerland, laughing and taking silly pictures. Kaitlin had Ovamaltine served in a cup just like this, so when I saw this cup at the Salvation Army in Basel I had to get it.

18. The Texas cup - AIA women's conference in San Antonio.

19. The San Diego cup - AIA at ABCA in San Diego, no kids. JD worked the convention, I spent my days discovering San Diego.