My Morning Coffee

      We all have our routines. One of mine is that I get to work and make my coffee. Then, as I'm stirring in the off white powder that passes for cream, I think about my dad. My dad worked for PPG, back when the letters stood for Pittsburgh Plate Glass, and glass was all they made. He worked in the research department, inventing new ways to make glass that was stronger and more flawless. In fact, he invented the FM antennae in the windshield that was big in the 70's.

       He was an inventor at heart and inventors are always asking questions. What happens if we do this? What if we try that? What makes this keep exploding? One day my dad was stirring cream into his coffee (or that powdered corn syrup solids that passes for cream) and as the powder dissolved, the tinking of the spoon rose in pitch. He asked me, tinking inching upward, "Do you know what causes that?" I was 8, so I didn't. "It's the density of the liquid changing as the powder dissolves."

      My father passed away in March of 2009 but I think of him every morning as what passes for cream dissolves into my morning coffee. We all celebrate those obvious big moments: the graduations, the weddings, but sometimes it's those little moments we take with us into the future.