The mug

 

This is my coffee mug.

It's how I start most days. OK, I have other mugs and occasionally use them, but this one is my dominant one.

I bought it at South of the Border because of course, I did.

I bought it in Jan 2012 which was the first time I was at SOB in nearly 20 years.

The mug brings me coffee. Normally pretty hot with some cream and sugar in it.

But it brings me much more than that.

It often brings a fresh start to the day or a refuel in the afternoon or even a late-night jolt for a video court case (such as late last night).

It's the right size. It's not the size of the ones used on "Friends" (you know, the huge Central Perk mug) but it's also bigger than the "shot glass" coffee mug I have from Waffle House. Don't get me wrong, that one has its place when that size cup of coffee is needed.

But this also brings me a place to go to.

I don't have a count of how many times I've been to South of the Border -- where I-95 meets US 301/501 at the South Carolina side of its border with North Carolina. Though I know I was there in 2012 and bought this mug. Then I've been back every year from 2014-2019.

We've mentioned it numerous times around here. It's a tourist trap. It's goofy and tacky. It's less tasteless than it used to be.

And I read criticism of it all the time (dirty, unfriendly, whatever).

I've gone for basically 50 years and have always had a nice visit.

There were many times we just drove by, with stops to be had elsewhere like Florence and Fayetteville and Rocky Mount on our way to and from Florida.

There have been many times -- especially over the last decade -- that we went out of our way to go there, often pushed by Sean who likes it a lot.

So that's what I see in this mug, even if it's subconsciously. I see the black and white photos of SOB gone by and the color photos of what it might be now (I have no idea of the age of the photos on the mug).

So I see the food stops and the souvenir shops and the big sombrero and the large Pedro sign.

But I also see and hear my family -- my parents, my siblings, my son, my nieces, and literally anyone else who has gone there with me.

I can see the view from the top of the sombrero (when the damn thing is actually open). I can taste the chili dog and fries. I can ponder the magnets and t-shirts and keychains and other trinkets -- some of which I already own.

I can hear the sounds of the game machines.

I can feel the weather -- those chilly winter days where a jacket might be necessary but it still felt far better than what was back in New York. Or the blistering hot days where the parking lot wasn't the best place to be so, yeah, a souvenir shop seemed mighty nice.

I can see the billboards. Oh, those billboards. Much funnier and politically-incorrect back then. There were so many of them, stretching up towards Philadelphia. Now, you don't see them until you're basically within two hours radius.

But they were a selling point, pushing to a frenzy in hopes of stopping for the kid in the car. Or the teenager.

I can remember my father pressing harder on the accelerator, teasing that he was going to blow right on by. As I said, there were many times that we didn't stop, but normally the accelerator tease meant he was going to stop, soon slowing down to put his signal on.

"Don't waste all day," was the message, even if he didn't say it. We had a motel to get to somewhere.

Stay at South of the Border? No, we never have, but I would do it. My mother and Sean and I had talked about doing that. Just for a night. But, as we know, we ran out of time.

Then there's their reptile lagoon. Nope. Nope nope nope nope and abso-freaking-not-on-your-life-nope.

Maybe there would be some mini-golf. In these latter years, there's always been a visit to the spot where the two states meet on a quiet side street where you could be in both states at once. These were things we never had time to do when we were passing through.

Oh, and there's a Waffle House less than a mile away. And yes, we've eaten there.

All of this from a coffee mug.

It takes me to a happy place. Beauty and happiness are in the eye of the beholder.

But it's a mug.

It can bring me hot coffee and memories aplenty.