A bunch of years ago, my family bought me a mug with blacked-out titles of books typically banned in the U.S., which are then revealed when the mug gets hot. I cherished it because a) I love to read, b) I taught English [including some of this material], and c) I cannot get enough clever mugs1 for my daily tea habit. I delightedly used this one for awhile until my dear well-meaning husband put it in the dishwasher and all of the magical censor marks disappeared along with most of the lettering. #SadTrombone
Obviously we could have purchased another right away as it wasn’t an exclusive, bespoke item, but I decided to hold a petty grudge wait a while since I did indeed have plenty of other mugs to use.
Fast-forward a couple of years to my husband & I driving around LA on my birthday getaway weekend, trying to find a good place to get a shot of the Hollywood sign, when we happened upon a “Prop Sale.” Unless I’m headed to the hospital [in an ambulance], I will stop for anything resembling a garage sale. This one was as wacky & weird as expected for the area but after a few minutes, I hadn’t found anything I really needed to take home. UNTIL I spotted my exact banned books mug NEW IN THE BOX. I scooped it up before any of the other shoppers2 spied it and went to the man operating the sale. He looked at the box fondly and said “Oh, that was out here?” and I immediately felt a strange combination of dejection - aw darn, not really for sale? - mixed with I Need To Speak With Your Manager rising rage. I was getting that replacement mug. I decided to ignore his question and asked how much. He sighed, “I don’t know…$3?” I gestured urgently to my supportive3 husband who quickly pulled three ones from his wallet as the man went on wistfully: “I bought that for my wife a while ago4…I guess she didn’t really like it.” We were all momentarily sympathetic about his unfortunate gifting before I told him how much I loved it, that it was a great birthday present for me, and thanked him heartily. Then we bolted to our rental car before he (or his wife) could change their minds.

Now I think of that gentleman and his clearly dreary spouse and, of course, my own intrepid, loyal husband every time I drink my morning tea from this cheeky cup.
Then I handwash it and immediately place it back in the cupboard for safekeeping.
My cupboard space says otherwise but I get clever with risers.
Startlingly aggressive for pretty average looking folk wandering around the neighborhood…
Probably a little scared, too. There were a lot of feelings wrapped up in that mug.
I honestly thought he was going to say she died and was then worried I might have to let him keep it after all or risk bad karma from being an insensitive, selfish asshole. #sweating
I was very relieved when we found that thing
Fast forward… to LA