Little Rituals

I eat everywhere in my house - in the kitchen; over the stove; over the sink; in front of the frig; in front of the cupboard. In the living room on the couch. In my bedroom, especially at night and coffee on Sunday mornings. In my car. At my desk at work. It's always nice to see the pretty pictures in magazines of a nicely set table with pretty people dressed and eating with smiles on their faces. There is never a picture of a teenage boy complaining that he doesn't want oatmeal, or a four year old standing on the chair screaming at the top of his lungs.
I like to try and sit at the table. At the moment I don't own one so I eat at my desk in my house - while I'm on the computer. I like tables and I like table cloths, one draped one way and another over the other way. I like linen napkins, too, not the fussy ironed ones, but the ones that are fresh out of the dryer and not pure white but natural looking. I like it easy going with just a touch of formality, after all it is a meal and a table should always be set somewhat properly. Growing up my grandmother always had placemats. She had some woven ones that rolled up that I liked, and many others. After the meal, they got picked up, and the centerpiece left in the middle of the table. 
My one ritual is that I have  my coffee in the same mug every morning. I used to have a mug that my grandmother's sister gave to me when I was 13. We had gone to Fisherman's Village in Marina del Rey, and in a shop there she bought me a mug that said 'Le Chat'. I was dating a guy when I was 35 and he broke that mug. I came home from work and found the remnants of it in my sink. He knew the history of it, too, I had told him how long I had had it, and he didn't bother to even call me right away to tell me. I have to say, right then and there I lost all the feelings I ever had for the guy. I tried to make it work, but I couldn't do it. That mug meant so much to me and he acted like it was nothing. From age 13 to 35 that mug had been everywhere with me, and he thought it was just a mug. Little things mean a lot.