![\"Genevieve](\"https:\/\/lamesacourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/cutout_genevieve_suzuki.png\")
<\/a>I discovered Derek\u2019s discontent over lunch at The Hills on La Mesa Boulevard. As we scanned our menus, he leaned in close as though he were telling me a secret.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is it?\u201d I whispered. We\u2019ve been married for more than 15 years so it\u2019s always fun to think my husband is flirting with me.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow many mugs do you really need?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow many\u2026 What are you asking me?\u201d I replied, trying to figure out whether \u201cmugs\u201d was code for something sexy.<\/p>\n
\u201cMugs. Your collection of mugs is getting larger every time.\u201d OK, not sexy. Got it.<\/p>\n
Sputtering, I tried frantically to remember how many mugs I had amassed. \u201cPsssh, I only have about\u2026oh, maybe 10?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy do you need 10 mugs?\u201d he asked. \u201cYou should have three at most: Your travel mug and maybe two mugs for coffee, hot cocoa or tea.\u201d<\/p>\n
My sweet, sweet, sweet, simple husband. He just didn\u2019t get it. \u201cUh, no,\u201d I said. Clearly, I was speaking to a blissfully ignorant house dweller. \u201cWe need a lot of different mugs for a lot of different reasons. First, you have your basic coffee mug. And that mug can\u2019t just be any mug. The handle needs to have room for four fingers so you can clutch it close on cold days. Because there are four of us in the house who could use those mugs, we need a few of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then we need soup mugs. These mugs are more like bowls with handles and are perfect for soupy days when you don\u2019t feel well and want to clutch it close on days when you have a cold.\u201d (There\u2019s a lot of clutching mugs close in my world.)<\/p>\n
I went on relentlessly despite never seeing Derek\u2019s eyes roll so far back into his head. \u201cDon\u2019t forget the tea mugs. These are mugs with something Zen about them. I know there\u2019s something Zen about them because the tea company said they were Zen mugs. And I want Zen, Derek \u2013 desperately.\u201d<\/p>\n
Derek muttered under his breath about Zen and empty cupboards. I ignored him and plunged on. \u201cOh, and then we have those cute little glass cider mugs! We need those because someday we will have warm cider with our kids! And of course they\u2019re glass so we can see that cinnamon stick swirling around.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWait\u2026 So we\u2019re giving our kids glass mugs of hot liquid?\u201d Derek asked.<\/p>\n
Before I could offer my lukewarm explanation, Derek interrupted. \u201cLook, fine, you want to keep your 100 mugs, OK. But now you\u2019re going to use them for much more than that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, yeah, duh. I can use them for warm milk, chai\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, you\u2019re going to use them for your meals,\u201d he said. \u201cAs in, \u2018breakfast,\u2019 \u2018lunch,\u2019 \u2018dinner,\u2019 and whatever that meal is you eat hiding in the kitchen right before bed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI could do that. Those soupy mugs are good for oatmeal, macaroni \u2018n\u2019 cheese\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m thinking, \u2018mug o\u2019 steak,\u2019 \u2018mug o\u2019 cheeseburger,\u2019 \u2018mug o\u2019 sushi.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Derek went on for a few minutes, listing various non-mug-friendly foods that were going into my precious mugs. Amid that sarcastic soliloquy, I realized mugs are the Little Black Dress of dinnerware \u2013 they had a use for a variety of situations and emotions. What may be a Happy Day mug might not be appropriate for a day when I\u2019m seeking comfort, and what may be a Blustery Day mug would not be a mug appropriate for the search for Zen.<\/p>\n
Thankfully, our conversation switched to the usual \u2013 our kids \u2013 and my mugs were safe until the next time Derek peered into the cupboard.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Genevieve A. Suzuki My husband is getting tired of my mug. In fact, he\u2019s getting tired of all of my mugs. Lest you think I\u2019m a woman of many faces \u2013 personalities, yes, but just one face \u2013 I\u2019m referring to my ever-growing mug collection stashed in our cupboard.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":729,"featured_media":221794,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11548","_seopress_titles_title":"Gen-X in a Millennial World: Mugging up","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11548],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-223507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-la-mesa-courier"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/729"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}