The Perfect Coffee Mug

This isn't it. But it's close. Every time we would visit IHOP I would appreciate the thickness of the mug, it's smaller size tucked into my hand just right to warm it. The thicker the mug, the better. The old diner mugs were perfect. They were made by the Victor company, which originally made insulators for power lines. They manufactured their first mugs for the military during WWII. They were prized by the navy, especially, because their weight kept them from toppling over in the high seas. If you see any of these old beauties at a garage sale with "Victor" imprinted on the bottom, snap them up. They were driven out of business by the cheap knockoffs and no diner mug nowadays has the heft and warmth of the Victor. So we make do.

IHOP's mug came closest to it. It's small and about as thick as you can find these days. I don't like gigantic mugs. I sip on my coffee too slowly to need a gallon at a time. And if I can tuck it into my hand, I can hold against my chest and under my nose easily. Coffee is one of those scents I can still just get a whiff of. Ever since I lost my sense of smell two years ago, coffee, piñon, and garlic are my friends. (I can smoke the rest of house out with piñon incense just to trick myself into believing I can smell.)

So I finally asked our IHOP one morning, could I possibly buy my coffee mug?

She looked at me strangely and said, "Just take it."

"No, no," I protested, "I don't want to steal it. But I would love to have one."

"I'll go ask the manager," she said and tottered off into the back.

Later in the meal she came back. "The manager says, just take it."

My in-laws were up for a visit with us that morning. So Nell decides she needs to try to get me a set. At each IHOP they visited over the next year, she asked. And guess what, every time, they sold her one, never gave it to her. Sorry Mom!

Now I have four: my one gifted and three she bought for me. Every one who sees them asks if I stole them. So the answer is no, really, I didn't. Honest. :)