I have an odd assortment of coffee cups in my kitchen cupboard. I have giant mugs given to me by friends with quote and quips, such a “Too much of a good thing is… Wonderful.” I have pretty souvenir mugs from Grand Marais, Grand Portage and all over Cook County. I have one of local potter Joan Farnam’s amazing rattle mugs. I have cups from all over the United States and several from Europe—an Eiffel Tower mug from Paris and a set of little mulled wine (Gluhwein) cups from the Bad Wimpfen Christmas Market in Germany.
I don’t have a favorite—I rotate which mug I use for my morning coffee because I like them all. Amongst all the favorites are two peach colored mugs emblazoned with rounded red letters reading “Big Hug Mug.” The mugs have great sentimental value for me. Both held a bouquet that was sent to me when I was suffering some medical problems. One from a cousin and then, a few years later when I faced another issue, from friends at work. Both made me smile when I received them.
I still smile when I reach into the cupboard and find one of those cups front and center. I think of the people who cared enough to send me a big hug via a bouquet of flowers when I was going through difficult times.
I hadn’t really thought much about where the “Big Hug Mug” came from and whether it was a massproduced item. Over the years I’ve never seen any others. But recently I was watching TV with my husband Chuck and there was my “Big Hug Mug”!
We were watching Chicago Fire, one of our favorite programs, and there, at the table that the firefighters sit around to eat and debate various firehouse issues, was the distinctive orange mug. It has actually been in a number of episodes. The first time I saw it, the mug was just sitting on the table amongst other mugs. But on a subsequent show, one of the firefighters—Otis played by Yuri Sardarov— is drinking from the “Big Hug Mug.”
I don’t know why it tickled me so much, but it did. It was one of those “It’s a small world” moments. It was as if I have a connection with those Chicago firefighters.
It doesn’t seem entirely impossible. Chicago Fire is one of those programs that is following the current trend of having “crossover” episodes. From Chicago Fire came a spinoff TV show, Chicago PD. Firefighters and cops move back and forth between the two shows, working on cases together and of course, to keep the show interesting dating!
In recent weeks there was an expanded crossover— Chicago Fire firefighters stumbled on a sex ring and after calling in the Chicago PD cops, they contacted a special crime victims unit from another state for help. That brought in characters from New York, from Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
I know, it’s a bit of a stretch that these characters from a fire hall and a police station in a big city like Chicago get to know one another, let alone detectives from New York. But I like it. It seems like real life to me. Real people have “It’s a small world” occurrences all the time.
It’s like going to Duluth for a doctor appointment or shopping and seeing people from Cook County there. It’s like our North Shore snowbirds who run into one another at the grocery store in Arizona and Florida.
And seeing one of my favorite mugs on one of my favorite TV programs is just another of those “small world” incidents. A very silly one. But once again, the “Big Hug Mug” brought a smile.
For today and its blessings, I owe the world an attitude of gratitude. Clarence E. Hodges
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