The mug that lives across town....

 I have a mug that lives in my best friend Y's house.

It is probably my favorite but because it lives somewhere else, I don't use it on a regular basis.  The mug is a Polish Pottery Bubble Mug and it's one of my favorite patterns from a pottery shop named Andy's.  If you're familiar, it's the pattern with the big red dot or starburst, if you're not, go google it. :-)  The mug fits perfectly in my hands and hasn't stained from the copious amounts of coffee I drink which says a lot for Polish Pottery.

A couple of years ago I knew that spring that when I returned in the fall, I would be living out of suitcases while the rest of my life was in boxes under Y's stairs.  It was then, before I even left for the hard summer that I pulled out the mug and put it on the shelf in her kitchen.  When I returned, my boxes and my mug were right there for me along with a guest bedroom made up and a welcome sign made by adorable two and four year olds on the chalk board.

When I returned that fall I had finished raising support to join staff with Campus Crusade for long term status.  I had been gone from Budapest about 5 months, 3 more than usual and was returning 'late' into the year after school had started.  (It wasn't super late, but not getting there 'on time' was very hard for me)  It felt like I set my bags down, took a shower then went straight to school.  In reality I probably had a couple days or a weekend, then I jumped in.  It had been a hard summer with multiple trainings and meetings, but it had been fruitful and I was finally back.

(by the way, please don't read any complaining into this story, housing quirks are just a fact of living overseas.... no whining intended.)

I ended up staying with Y and her family for about a month.  When I had left in the spring, I didn't have a place to stay and the place that I had found during the summer fell through, so I was back to square one.  It ended up taking about a month to find the new place and then move in.  During that time, drinking coffee in my mug, sitting at Y's table was the home and familiarity that I needed.  They were incredibly gracious and I always feel at home with their family.

And now, the mug still lives there.  I didn't move it back to my house...even though I've actually moved again since.  I think about it every so often, than maybe I should move it over to my cupboard and use it more regularly, but then I never do.  Y and her family use the mug and it makes sense that they do, it lives in their cupboard after all.  I end up being over there 2 or 3 times a month or more anyway, so I get to use it enough.  Until she tells me to take it back with me to my apartment or something happens and I don't live over here any more, the mug is staying put.

You see at Y's, the mug is exactly where I need it.

I needed the friendship and family that it represents.  It's the time spent talking and discussing theology, culture and God.  It's laughing at and with Y and D's children, watching movies and endless SyFy channel or BBC marathons during the Hungarian winter.  It's praying over so many things with a cup of good coffee or tea.   I may not keep a toothbrush there, but I do keep my favorite mug in a cupboard across town.

It seems right that my favorite mug lives with some of my favorite people.