March 2026 Slice of Life, No. 10
During our March SOL26, E B Griffin begins her slices begin the words
“I’m writing about a different object each day and trying to discover what the object says about who I am and how I see the world.” So, with a nod to her writing prompt, I share my slice today.
We may go for a country drive tomorrow, if the sun shines and the sky is blue. And if we do, Stanley will go with us.
Flashback.
My folks always took Stanley on our family trips. Stanley had the coveted spot — the front bench seat between my mom and dad. After an hour or so of driving, my mom would poured my dad some hot coffee. Stanley provided the stainless steel cup that held just the right amount of coffee. As Mom poured, a wonderful aroma filled our car. But my brothers and I weren’t allowed to drink coffee. Back in that day, the adults told us that coffee would stunt our growth. And none of us wanted that to happen.
Back then, there were
no Starbucks,
no Dutch Bros,
no Human Bean,
no cute drive-through coffee kiosk in a hardware store parking lot.
Flash-forward a few years to the first year Carl and I were married.
We lived in Idaho.
His folks lived in Oklahoma.
My folks lived in Illinois.
When we made trips home, they were always non-stop marathons, partly because he would have very short leaves from the Navy, partly because we couldn’t afford motels. But before our first marathon, we scraped together enough cash to get Stanley. We knew we needed Stanley.
In the early hours of morning after a night of driving, we’d stop for a hot breakfast in a local cafe in some small town we were passing through. There we’d give the waitress Stanley and thank her when she handed Stanley back. Later in the day, lunch would be sandwiches on the go — usually peanut butter and jelly — and some hot coffee, courtesy of Stanley. Sometimes for supper, we’d enjoy hamburgers and fries. Of course, that depended if there was a McDonald’s or Sonic or Dairy Queen in the town we were passing through. We’d hand Stanley across the counter to the server and then thank her when she returned Stanley with our hamburgers and fries.
Flash-forward many years to today.
We still have Stanley. We still take Stanley on road trips, even short, one-day trips. And though Stanley’s old enough to be considered vintage, Stanley still keeps our coffee hot for 24 hours.
Maybe we will go for a relaxing drive tomorrow with Stanley. We always enjoy a hot cup of coffee while driving through farmlands, woods, and mountain passes.
Stanley Thermos
Postscript
“On September 2, 1913, William Stanley Jr. patented the all-steel vacuum flask. The idea came about as a result of his work with transformers, during which he discovered that a welding process he was using could be used to insulate a vacuum bottle with steel instead of glass.” –Wikipedia
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