porcelainandporcupines

When I undertook this project, my only real goal was to find a good way to pass a little time. Also, I was hoping that more people would share pictures and stories of their own mugs over on Facebook where I shared these posts, but that part never really took off. That minor disappointment aside, it was nice to take a moment each day to reflect on my collection, on where I had been at various points along the timeline, and on those moments or hopes or plans that were worthy of commemorating.

Too, so many of these mugs are associated with friends, people I know, or at least used to. In times like These – which can toggle back and forth between Uncertain and Unprecedented without warning – it has been reassuring to remember those relationships, and to hope that sort of togetherness, and travel, will be possible in some fashion or another again soon.

Among many others, this raises a question: when these times have passed, and if we are lucky enough to survive them, how will we choose to commemorate them? Many people have craft projects, puzzles, artwork, or other they’ve created on which they’ll be able to look back. There’s so much reporting, so many books to be written, delayed projects that will finally come to fruition, and I am very serious that I will not consider things to be on track until I am able to see that Jungle Cruise movie starring The Rock. But, The Rock’s unstoppable charisma notwithstanding, for me, obviously, the only proper way to remember this strange and unsettling time in all of our lives will be with a mug. And not just any mug, but the black campfire mug from the National Cowboy Museum.

The National Cowboy Museum came to the nation’s attention a few weeks ago; after stay-at-home orders were issued across the county, the museum was closed to the public, and museum staff, too, stayed home. But the museum was still patrolled daily by the Security Guard, a gentleman named Tim who, among his other duties, assumed responsibility for the museum’s social media accounts.

And this is where the nation got involved, because Tim’s introduction to social media was delightfully rocky. It’s hard to imagine someone just learning how to use Twitter in 2020, but Tim did, and he did it amazingly publicly. I can’t imagine how I would do if the whole internet were watching me learn how to Tumbl, but Tim, fortunately, was able to work with Seth from Marketing to learn how to navigate the museum’s selfie stations; how to create compelling content highlighting the museum’s collection; how to keep his voice authentic; and, most importantly, how to use an actual hashtag, rather than just the word “hashtag,” in a way that that not just acknowledged his early errors, but capitalized on them.

Throughout, Tim has been indefatigable, remaining in good spirits on his daily museum patrols, taking photos and sharing them online with his custom hashtag and his trusty coffee cup in hand occasionally making its way into the photos – and jokes! – he shares online with the museum’s followers.

Tim’s mug is the one I would choose if I do have an opportunity to remember this time, because Tim himself exemplifies so much of the best of the human spirit we’re seeing in this moment. He has adapted to the new reality with grace, he has trusted and worked closely with experts like Seth, which has allowed him to thrive in his new position; he has given regular credit to those experts to acknowledge that – even when social distancing – it is important to work together, value all members of your team, and recognize when to defer to experienced leadership; he has shared his experience and the joy in his day with the world, as well as giving all of us an extra window to peek out of our homes, to see into this museum in Oklahoma that I had no idea existed, but now look forward to checking in on two or three times a day, every day, until all of this ends.

Tim isn’t the only person rising to this moment. There are so many examples of people reaching out however they can, who are not saving lives per se, but who have found a way to evolve their status quo so that they can offer support to all of us who have had to learn how to live in this difficult moment. A moment of unknown duration, a moment we won’t know how to safely move on from once it has passed. But what we do know is that, whatever changes, however our sense of ‘normal’ is forced to evolve, goodness will endure. Because of everyone who – like Tim – used this moment to remember that, no matter where we are, we’ve always been in this together.

#HashtagTheCowboy. I hope to be able to share that mug with everyone sometime soon. Until then, stay well, stay indoors, and stay sane.