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Pour a cup, folks. Today’s Morning Coffee is about what happens when life makes you sit down while the world keeps moving. What is one small thing that made you smile recently?

By Benjamin Groff II GroffMedia© | benandsteve.com | ©2026
October 17, 2026

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Apparently, the world does not stop just because you break your leg. I find that inconsiderate.

Good morning, coffee drinkers! Pull up a chair. I already have mine, and lately we have become inseparable.

With a cast on my leg, I have had plenty of time to observe life from a seated position. My television provides the entertainment. My MacBook provides the distractions. My phone provides distractions from those distractions.

Then my Apple Watch tells when me to stand. Sometimes, I even pay attention to it.

There ought to be a button that says, “Please discuss this with my surgeon.”

Meanwhile, Otis, our Jack Russell Terrier, continues racing through the house as though someone has announced that squirrels are taking over the government. Steve keeps things moving, and I supervise from my chair—a position for which I have discovered considerable natural talent.

But somewhere between the television, the notifications, and watching Otis break the household land-speed record, a thought occurred to me.

How much of our lives do we spend feeling behind?

Behind on the bills. Behind on the housework. Behind on returning messages. Behind on whatever we meant to accomplish before lunch, before Friday, or before we turned a certain age.

Even sitting still can feel like something we ought to be doing more efficiently.

Watch a movie? Certainly. But answer three messages, check the news, and figure out dinner while you are at it.

By the time the credits roll, we need someone to explain the movie we just watched.

I suspect some of you know exactly what I mean.

Somewhere today, somebody is drinking coffee before a shift they would rather not work. Somebody is caring for a person they love. Somebody is looking at an empty chair. Somebody is starting over, quietly, without an audience to applaud the effort.

And somebody is simply trying to get through their version of a Monday. Without saying something that requires an apology on a Tuesday. Or a Wednesday, or a Thursday. Or whatever day of the week it may be.

There is room for all of you at this table.

You do not need an impressive story to belong here. Tell me about the dog who stole your breakfast. The person you miss. The song that took you back forty years before your coffee had time to cool.

Those are the things I enjoy hearing. They give us something to recognize in one another.

My broken leg has certainly rearranged my days. I would have preferred a less dramatic reason to sit down. But since I am here, I might as well pay attention.

There is coffee to enjoy. There are old movies to revisit. There is Steve to talk with and Otis to watch—preferably before he launches himself across the furniture.

And there are folks on the other side of this screen, living lives I would like to hear about.

What is one small thing that made you smile recently?

Tell me in the comments. It does not have to be extraordinary. Around here, a good story can begin with a cup of coffee and a dog behaving badly.

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