My Mormon Dad Took Me to Starbucks
My Mormon dad took me to Starbucks. You might be shrugging your shoulders and thinking, “Who cares?” but as someone who was raised and lived her life believing for thirty-seven years that drinking coffee was a sin it was a big deal.
I have been drinking coffee since I had a change of beliefs over five years ago, but have tried to keep it on the down low around my parents since I understand my parents beliefs, having lived them for most of my life. You might think I am being dramatic, but I have been unfriended on social media by several friends and even some family, in part, because I was being tagged in posts at coffee shops and holding coffee cups.
I had been helping my parents clean out their house of forty years that they recently sold. There was a lot of heavy lifting and walking up and down stairs and my son and I had been there for several hours and had little to eat. The dust had triggered my allergies so I had a full dose of Benadryl in me threatening to make me curl up in an empty corner and fall asleep.
“Let’s take a break and go grab some tacos,” dad said, and we all piled in the van.
Starbucks was right by Del Taco. I knew needed a good boost of caffeine to counteract the Benadryl so I could go back and work.
“Uh. Dad. Do you think you could run through the Starbucks drive through for me?”
He didn’t say anything but the car continued around the roundabout in the direction I was hoping it would go.
He pulled up to the menu and rolled down the back window so I could place my order. When we pulled around I handed him my phone so he could pay with my Starbucks app. We waited a minute and they handed him my hot latte and he passed it back to me. Still not a word, but not an uncomfortable silence or tension either. It was fine.
As we pulled away and I sipped my white chocolate mocha I couldn’t help but smile. For all my worries over the years it was reconfirmed to me again that my dad loves and accepts me for who I am. I am one of the lucky ones.
