Saying Goodbye to Al Marai Coffee Cups
All my nomadic life, I have had to sift, sort and weigh the value of my belongings – literally. As an Army wife and later a corporate wife, I had a weight allowance as we moved from country to country. My life was full of leaving things behind – friends, churches, social groups, jobs, my identity – as well as belongings.
Unlikely items made the cut. In 2003, when we moved to Doha, Qatar, I discovered a nearby store, the LuLu (which means lovely large pearl), where a gallon of Al Rifai milk came with a free coffee cup sturdily taped to it. I was delighted. I’ve always believed good design does not necessarily correlate with price – and these cups were a perfect size and had these wonderful scenes from Doha life, where there was a dhow harbor in the center of town, dhows in the harbor, and camel races with human riders on Saturdays. Look! The dhow coffee cup even has a wind tower in the background.
So yesterday, Christmas Day, as I opened two beautiful new coffee cups, one from Giverney and one from Barcelona, my husband looked at me sorrowfully, and approached the subject gently.
“It’s time we give up the Doha coffee cups,” he said.
“They have served us well. They are over 20 years old. They were free, probably made in China from materials we don’t even want to think about. I use them all the time, and even as I do, I wonder what might be leaching into my drink.”
I know he is right. There is no marking of any kind to indicate origin. After all these years, marks are appearing where we have stirred for twenty years. And yet – these cups have served me loyally. They are still bright and unmarred. I love their memorialization of a slower time in Doha. And I have options.
At Christmas breakfast, I have the cups out on display and offer them to my son. He is a discerning collector of first editions by selected authors, first edition Legos from the space exploration collections, edged weapons, and selected items that catch his attention. He also knows how to buy and sell on the Internet when he wants to refine his collections.
He expresses interest but does not take them with him. Their departure, however, is Christmas Day chaotic – bags full of presents, the food divided to be used for quick meals in the coming week (even our grandchildren contributed to our Christmas Eve dinner, my grandson a crab dip and my granddaughter a wreath made of crescent roll wrapped little smokies. My son, who was never interested in cooking, astonished us with a baked Brie!) and last-minute check-ins on upcoming family plans.
I am a patient woman. I know those cups deserve to find new appreciation in a new home. I believe my son will get involved but if not, I have other options.
Update: This is what it is like to be me. It is not that I am getting older, it is that I will tell you things I believe to be true, and they are close, but not the same.
My friend Yusuf, below, said he thought it must be Al Marai, and that sounded familiar. AdventureMan said maybe really we should keep the cups, and as he handled them, He found Al Marai logos on the cups. Not just one. Two on each cup.
In our family, we are all very very sure we are right. When we are not right, we are required to humbly state it. I was wrong, so very very wrong; the cups were labeled, Al Marai, not Al Rifai, and YOU, Yusef and AdventureMan, were RIGHT.
And we are keeping the cups!
“But You Don’t Even Drink Coffee!”
“But you don’t even drink coffee!” I exclaimed to AdventureMan as he utilized the miracle of modern technology to pick up some shares of Starbucks, which had plunged to unbelievable depths.
“No, but they have shown they are quick on their feet,” he responded, clicking away on his online-investing account. “I like the way they cut their losses quickly, and they are always looking for new twists to keep their customer base coming back.”
We have very few investments in individual stocks; most of our money is in funds. When we do invest in individual stocks, we choose stocks we have a personal interest in, like, for me, Amazon. I read books. I buy books. It makes sense to me.
If you have ever studied decision making, you learn that people make decisions – on a personal level, on a financial level, on a national level – based on irrational criteria. We can put together a matrix, we can put together a decision-making process, we can get all the pros and cons – and when the decision has to be made, other factors come into play.
The perfect suitor, good family, good character, hard working and handsome might be rejected because you don’t like his cologne.
The perfect candidate for the job, well qualified, having a magnetic personality, a great track record – may be rejected because the manager has an unidentified fear that the candidate could outshine him/her.
Nations go to war for irrational reasons. We understand rational processes – and then we bypass them.
We have a mental list of how we will rationally make a decision – and then we have the primitive brain undermining our rational choices.
Or that is how I see it.
The truth as I see it is that I am happy he bought shares in Starbucks because it is a Seattle company. I love going into Starbucks, seeing people sitting around drinking coffee, tutoring students, old folks passing the time, couples getting to know one another – on a cold, rainy day in Seattle, a cup of Starbucks tastes great. I vote for Starbucks for emotional reasons.
I have my favorites, and you never see them here in Kuwait. At Thanksgiving / Christmas, they have a Gingerbread Latte, and they have a Peppermint Mocha. I adore them.
With Ramadan coming up, they should put together a Ramadan cup of coffee, for after Ifthar, don’t you think? Maybe a little cardomon in it, maybe a little cinnamon?
Seattle Fuel
Here is what Seattleites tank up on to handle the chill weather:
There are little coffee shops ever couple hundred feet – Seattle people don’t want to be without their coffee, chai, or cinnamon apple cider.
Not Your Kuwait Starbucks
All the Starbucks in Seattle – there is one on every corner, and sometimes on TWO corners of the same crossroads – are tarted up for Christmas. They have special Christmas blend coffees, they have Peppermint Mocha and Gingerbread Latte, and they have all these adorable Christmas theme cups, and hot cups, for your home and for your car:
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