A Cup of Coffee Shared

My sister has been going through stress from her master's programme lately - how hectic it keeps becoming each day, the workload and errands by professors she had to go for in compiling documents and students' grades plus other things she had been tending to as regards getting a job to help her survive in the US.

She seems all busy, even most times when I chat her up. She is going through a lot but when it comes to having her coffee, she doesn't trade it for anything. She takes each sip while allowing herself to live in the moment.

Just last week, she had one of those stressful days at school and at work but she was able to treat herself to some coffee at a shop she had always visited, mostly with her friends. But on this day, she went alone with her reasons. Perhaps she just needed to calm herself down and enjoy the fun alone.

While she sent me those photos, I was excited when she said she'd thought of me while taking her drink since she knows I love coffee too. She reminisced on our last time drinking coffee together while at home and on the phone and she longed for such a moment again.

My sister knows I am a coffee enthusiast, so when she decided to share her day through snapshots of coffee moments, it felt like the perfect gift. She needed something like a spark to replace the tiredness and opt-in for a cup of coffee.

"This one is for you, sis," she typed as she sent me this beautiful cup of coffee and I felt appreciated that she could think of me on a day like that. Each photo she sent to me felt like a little invitation to join her, even from afar.

She said while taking her coffee, she sat there reminiscing on our first coffee drink together back in the hometown where we shared lots of things and how it felt the day should happen again. We had another one again but it was through video calls. I know the first made more meaning because it was physical. I also went back to that memory and tears laid on my eyes - a beautiful day it was to me.

Coffee, for us, is more than a drink — it's a pause. A chance to breathe and reset. I knew she wanted me to feel that with her, to savour the little joys of a quiet coffee ritual and I didn't hesitate to. Her photos reminded me that, whether coffee is shared in person or through moments like this, the love of coffee that keeps us together will always flourish.

I believe another day will come when we will have this moment together in person and not all the time on the phone or from afar. I will always wait for that moment to come and then, we will realize how magical coffee can be to siblings who love each other.

^{All photos were sent by my sister from the US}