(If you look closely, you can see the steam rising from the coffee. This time of year, the morning light hits our dining table at just the right angle for us to see steam dancing atop our coffee. Like many things, it’s always there but we don’t always see it. Tim wrote a poem about this phenomenon one year when he and Lexie, who was eight at the time, went through a poetry-writing phase. He typed up their poems and published them in a nice little book, which I think is a wonderfully supportive and encouraging thing for a dad to do. I’m going to sit here for a moment, take a few deep breaths, count my blessings, then plunge back into the day. Want to join me?)

Black Coffee in the Morning

The morning sun spills across
my breakfast table
To catch the swirling steam
rising from my mug
Black coffee in the morning
sipped as I wake up
I reflect on the day ahead
the challenges
the possibilities
I watch the dancing shapes
in light
And then it’s time to go

(Tim Taylor, April 2008)