My view is over the rim of a 1970s vintage green coffee cup, with a cream interior. I’m an unrepentant coffee drinker like my momma was.

Mom used to share coffee with lady friends two or three days a week. This was not a pre-scheduled visit at Starbucks where they bought expensive double mocha lattes with a shot of espresso and a dollop of half and half. It was coffee perked out of a stainless steel electric coffee pot or brewed strong from a double boiler on the stove.

Those mornings Mom and her two Koffee Klatch friends would open one or the other’s back door and step into the kitchen. Seated at a chrome table with matching chrome chairs with plastic cushioned seats, they could relax as the kids were off to school and their men had gone to work. It was 8 a.m. and the cups were full and their cigarettes were lit.

Talk began as steam rose from the cups and smoke swirled around their heads; a pressure cooker tootled on the stove with the evening dinner. The women laughed easily, complained mightily, shared hopes and fears, traded recipes and dreams. They’d be back home in their own houses before noon, but looking forward to the next klatch time with coffee and one another.

I never desired to be only at home, as work elsewhere was my destiny. But Mom and the koffee klatch ladies had a sweet spot in their lives I can only envy—the closeness of women friends, shared secrets, trust in one another. I drink coffee first thing in the morning and then I’m usually on the run, by myself, with maybe an occasional Starbucks visit with friends. But it’s not the same view, though Mom probably looked from a green cup much like the one I have today.

At my table, my view is the quiet back yard, the birds at the feeder my company, the cats to whom I tell my secrets. I salute you, ladies, from long ago, and the views from your cups, and I hope your dreams came true.

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  Cat Pleska is an author, educator, and storyteller. She teaches full time at ASU and lives in Scott Depot with husband, one elderly dog, and 6 cats. She can be reached at catpleska.com or on FB.