A Tale of Two Cities

For the past four years, I have effectively lived in two cities at once. Neither one of them is, in itself, a really big city, but they both lie close enough to large metro areas that I consider myself to actually be from the large cities next door.

A couple years ago, when Starbucks* started selling mugs with the skylines major cities on them, and I became aware that both of "my" cities were available, it only seemed reasonable to beef up my mug collection a little bit with some of my favorite skylines.

But, it never seemed convenient. Whenever I saw the mugs, I was in a hurry. Or carrying all my luggage at the airport. Or something. But last week, when stopping at Starbucks on the way home from work to celebrate our first real paychecks with a friend, I noticed that once again, the skyline mugs were on sale. So after a few moments consideration, I decided to splurge on the mug from Boston.

On my way home that evening, I gave mom a quick call with an odd request: "Can you go to Starbucks in Austin and see if they have any of the city mugs?" You see, these mugs seem to only be available in the cities printed on the side, so it wasn't a simple matter of picking up the correct mugs and walking out. Luckily, after all of these years, mom isn't too put off by my random questions and requests and agreed to keep an eye out.

So, after all these years, my two cities are now right where they belong: side by side.


* Editor's note: The spellcheck appears to think that "Starbucks" really ought to be "Starfish."