She had always thought of herself as strong—until the day she found out about her husband’s affair. Suddenly, she felt fragile, lost. So she went to the one person who always knew what to say: her grandmother.
“I don’t know how to move forward,” she admitted, her voice shaking.
Grandma nodded and led her to the kitchen. She placed three pots of water on the stove, adding carrots to the first, eggs to the second, and coffee grounds to the third.
As they boiled, the granddaughter watched, puzzled. When they were done, Grandma handed her the softened carrots, the hardened egg, and a cup of coffee.
“Each of these faced the same challenge—the boiling water,” Grandma said. “But they reacted differently. The carrot weakened. The egg toughened. But the coffee? It changed the water itself.”
She paused, letting the words settle.
“When life gets hard, you have a choice,” Grandma continued. “You can let it break you, harden you, or you can transform it. Which will you be?”
The granddaughter wiped her tears and hugged her grandmother tightly.
That evening, she went home with a new resolve. The betrayal still hurt, but she refused to let it define her. She would be the coffee.
