• Coffee Sleeve Stories

    V for Victory

    By Grace Schultz In line at security, you remember you forgot about a can of V8 in your pack lying on the conveyor belt. You can’t just let it get tossed, and there’s only one way you know how to drink it all quickly. You reach into your bag for the V8 and your keys. With no hesitation you lock eyes with a TSA agent, punch a hole with your key, bring it to your mouth, throw your head back, pop the tab and shotgun the whole thing in 3 seconds. You crush the can and toss it into the trash and the key into your bin. Delicious.

  • Coffee Sleeve Stories

    A Holistic Holy Process

    By Brian Anderson Grounding step: Prayer hope wait sit calm listen breathe let-go reflect ponder rest relax breathe labyrinth meditate smile laugh share safe breathe quiet stillness perspective repeat. Prayer step: Grounding connection alone waiting Divine personal together private communal waiting sacred insight calm unknown waiting perspective holy guidance waiting. Release step: As the breath of now comes and goes, take this time to be. Remain in the moment. The daily challenge: being present, in the present as a present. Breathe.

  • Coffee Sleeve Stories

    Falling

    By Grace Schultz I didn’t check to see if I was jumping into the deep alone and as I fall, I’m scared you didn’t jump with me. I have closed my eyes so tightly, refusing to open them; maybe that’s why I’m terrified. An extension of Schrödinger’s cat, you have simultaneously leaped out with me while also anchoring yourself further to the ground above. But if my eyes remain closed, the distance between the water and I remains infinite. And even if it hurts when I decide to look, I know that it’s always been what it was always going to be, and it will all be okay.

  • Coffee Sleeve Stories

    It’s Not Too Late

    By Wella Marie If you’re heading down a path But the spark just isn’t there… It’s not too late to change your mind, It matters that you care! If life does not amaze you And you’ve simply lost your flair… What’s the point? It’s time for change. Go on and take the dare! Pursue what sets your heart on fire And fills your soul with air… Life is too short, don’t waste your time Adventure lies out there! Your heart won’t ever guide you wrong. Good luck my friend, take care! Today’s the day, go chase the dream, There’s magic in the air!

  • Coffee Sleeve Stories

    So I’ve Joined the World of Online Dating…

    By Sara Hinojosa In the time it takes you to read this sentence, your body will have made over a million red blood cells.The human body holds 37.2 trillion cells, all with little worlds of their own within them, operating together for the sole purpose of keeping itself alive—only for its occupant to spend hours in front of a tiny screen, swiping left and right on pictures of perfect strangers.

  • Coffee Sleeve Stories

    Daily Blather

    By Margo Gillis How abstruse it must be to be the wall I bounce my thoughts off of. It must take such self-control to sit and listen to the spiral leaving my mouth and flowing out into the world where it will be shortly forgotten to all but you. I think you’re the wall I bounce my thoughts off, but in reality, you’re the container I discard them into and promptly move on from. But meanwhile, you’re still there holding onto to all of my daily blather until you have no more room to contain it.

  • Coffee Sleeve Stories

    The Winter’s Melody

    By Olivia Reger A thousand lights upon the earth the snow falls deep and fey. I watch it close, my heart asleep, and let it set me free. Within the woods across the stream I see them dance and play. A memory once forgotten, now finds its way to me. A dream of mirth, a dream of myth, I dream a child’s lost day. A dream of winter magic, and a mark of childhood plea. I see the stars as they once came, a finger’s touch away, And wait to lift me patiently into their sky’s deep sea. For only there in the snowflake’s song will I be content to…

  • Coffee Sleeve Stories

    Three Words

    By Nora Miller “Are you suicidal?” I asked my son on Christmas Eve. “I think about it every day,” he said. “Tell me your plan. I am a mama bear and need to protect you.” “No. I’m not going to tell you, because you will then take it away.”  By asking that simple question, by having that conversation, and by acknowledging his mental health, my son got the care he needed. Two years later, there is light in his life and he seems to want a place in this world. I am breathing a little easier.

  • Coffee Sleeve Stories

    Morning Moments

    By Brant Hylinski Awaken to alluring azures. Boisterous breath begins billowing. Collecting cold, crisp, cavernous air. Do I depart from the duvet? Eerily, I emerge. Fortunate for forward fold flexibility. Gratitude grounds me to the geosphere. Harmonious happiness of headstand. Immaculate indigos infiltrate the interior. Jostling justifiable jubilance. Kinesthetic karma. Lovely.