I drank no coffee this morning and
by 1:30 was heavy lidded and unable to focus. So I made a cup and found a piece
of chocolate. While drinking my belated coffee, two children rode past the
schoolhouse on tiny bikes. I could tell they weren’t from here by their
protective helmets. There seem to be different imperatives in rural settings.
No one I know here would understand the impulse to stop drinking coffee. It is
the first thing offered in the morning and flows freely from never ending pots.
Likewise I don’t see parents pad their children in protective gear. Saturday
night my cousin’s children played in the yard and one got hit in the eye
producing a shiner. It wasn’t rage, just an accident and it wasn’t the end of
the fun. The urban and rural parents I know love their children fiercely. And my
rural and urban friends are all passionate about how they live their lives, but
they might go about it differently. I am keeping in mind our mother’s
admonitions, “in all things moderation,” with my hand curled around a coffee
cup.
