Ms. Lina and the Dark Chocolate

This morning, my Mom sipped from a mug that I don’t know where it came from. I told her that I do not like that mug has she should take it back to her house. I only drink out of mugs now and I seem to be collecting them. I no longer have the hand strength to hold a regular cup but rather using two hands and shoving one of my hands into the handle makes it easier to hold. It’s one of my favorite things to do!

She laughed when I told her that I didn’t like that mug and she turned her attention to the 2 mug trees I have situated next to my dish drainer. I told her that I didn’t like the shape of the mug, I didn’t like that it tapered at the bottom. She told me that the Santa Claus mug is hers too then. At that remark, I had to be aghast!

“It most certainly is not!” was my immediate response as she looked over my mug trees. “I got that from Ms Lina! It was a Secret Santa gift!” I explained, a little more calmly, that I received that mug a few years ago at work during the week of our Secret Santa Exchange. Ms. Lina had my name.

I had written mugs on my list as well as dark chocolate. Miss Lina had left the wrapped up gift on my desk before school. My second hour class and I head just come into my room as I noticed the gift because first hour was my prep period. The mug was filled with Hersheys miniature dark chocolate bars. My kids wanted me to open the gift and when I did, I got really excited! I had not eaten breakfast that day so I told them that chocolate is an EXCELLENT breakfast!

Since the mug was filled with chocolates, I asked my students if they wanted one. (That particular class only had six students in it and I think a couple of them were not there). Each of the students accepted a miniature chocolate bar as I opened one and popped it in my mouth. DE-LICIOUS!!!

I popped another piece into my mouth as I saw my kids’ faces and began to laugh! They didn’t like the dark chocolate! I told them that they could go get a drink of water from the fountain one at a time. Their faces reminded me of my brother’s face years before.

My brother, Ray, had come over to unplug the drain in my shower because it was slow and he is a plumber and has all of those tools. He came over when I was at Barwis so just Sean was home. I had a cut open bag of dark chocolate pieces on my table.

As my brother finished and was about to leave, he grabbed a piece of chocolate and began to unwrap it. Sean warned him that it was MY chocolate (meaning that it was gross!) but my brother told him that it was his “fee” for unplugging the shower drain as he popped it into his mouth.

Sean told me that he made a disgusted face as he opened his mouth because the chocolate tasted disgusting because it was 90% Cacao. I didn’t see his face but I imagine it was just like the faces my students were making! I think dark chocolate is delicious! And that Santa mug, our use it all year round and it always makes me think of Ms. Lina and the dark chocolate!

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The ugly mug is on the left and my Christmas mug from Ms. Lina is on the right.