Karma

First of all.... Happy New Year!! I know, the year is two weeks old already, but I figured I had to say it.

I've had this coffee mug for almost 9 years. It's been with me through my MS, my job in between, my entire PhD program, and a year of post-doc. I like it. I've used it every day I've been in this building since I got it through some kind of graduate student event I helped organize back in '01. So when I dropped it on the floor this morning, and it shattered into a thousand pieces, I was a little sad. It's just some ceramic, but it's been with me for a long time. You know, emotional ties and all that.

To top it off, it shattered so thoroughly that it required me to sweep out the entire storage room. Shards were everywhere on the floor. It took me about 10 minutes to clean up the floor. And while I'm crouched on the floor, sweeping with the hand broom to get every last shard, I just barely notice this little tube underneath the -80 degree freezer. I pull it out to throw it away, but then I look at the label.

It's a tube I had taken out of the freezer this morning and needed desperately. I would never have found it if it wasn't for the fact I had dropped that mug. That tube was important. I figure, that's worth my 9-year old mug. Thank you mug. For many happy years of warm coffee, and your sacrifice for my tube of DNA.