The Moose Mug

Do you ever see something that is pretty irrelevant, but for some reason it stirs a desire for creativity up inside of you?  I think I am a bit desperate for creativity right now.  The last couple months of work have been a bit of a grind and I have been feeling restless in part because I have struggled to carve out any time in my day for me (read: not posting a blog for nearly a month).  Learning to function in all the different roles I have as a man has not always been an easy transition and the journey from boy to man has been full of potholes, twists, turns and changes.  Adaptation is the key.  Adaptation, I suck at.  My wife will tell you, my family will tell you, my employees will tell you - I can plot a course with the best of them and I can put my nose to the grindstone and push through challenging times - what is tough for me is to course correct, to adjust, to adapt.

Before Ang and I started dating, we were really good friends and had been for a couple of years.  We always enjoyed being around each other, enjoyed similar things and had a penchant for laughing a lot and having great conversations.  I always really enjoyed spending time with her.  That is the mode I was in with her...great friends.  Well when the opportunity presented itself to start dating, I hesitated because we were such good friends.  I was so stuck in that mindset that I struggled to see the opportunity I had to start a relationship with a truly amazing girl.  I could have easily missed the chance save for the grace of God and the wisdom of my Dad..."Ry, girls like Ang don't come around very often, she is really special and you better figure out how you feel about her before it is too late."  Thanks Pops - good advice!  It is like when I finally make my mind up on something there is no stopping me, but until that light bulb comes on I am living in the dark.

So, back to the moose mug.  I was working an opening shift on the Friday after Thanksgiving...we opened at 3:10am to a line of 10 wide eyed, middle aged, women who needed caffeine to propel them into their shopping frenzy.  By the end of my day, I was exhausted, worn out and excited to get back to my family who was hanging out in Hood River.  I walked by the Moose Mug (a thick, brown, sturdy, manly mug with a white moose image on front) and it stirred something in me .  It reminded me of a time when I used to live a portion of my life outdoors.  The trips into the wild with Paul and Ty are memories I cherish because there was a wild and untamed aspect to them.  They remind me of a time when irresponsibility and spontanaetiy predominated my life - don't get me wrong, I wouldn't go back to that season of my life, but I feel a need to reconnect to the heart of the man who was living then.  I feel like I need to reconnect with the "wild man" who would camp, hike, fish and smoke his pipe. 

When I got home and my wife discovered the new mug (which further clogs our cupboards - we have one whole shelf dedicated to coffee mugs which is an undeniable pitfall of working at a coffee shop) and asked me about it and all I could say is that it is my "writing mug."  What the heck is a writing mug?  Well for me it is something that inspires me to carve out time to create something - to harken back to the wild man - to live an adventure.  I find that in my creativity I most closely resemble the heart of the Creator, in whose image I have been formed.  So here I sit, writing, while my wife is at work and our little one rests up for a day of crawling, talking, laughing, and living -  I am enjoying some Christmas Blend and the adventures my moose mug reminds to discover.  What inspires you?  Where or to whom do you look for that feeling of transcendence that allows you to reflect on your life and project into your future?

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