Welcome to the July 2026 edition of the Ultimate Coffee Date link up Deborah and I host the first Friday of every month so we can catch up on all the things we would discuss if we were having coffee. I bet most of us are celebrating 🇺🇸 July 4th 🇺🇸 this weekend, but no matter what you are celebrating, we want to hear about it!
You know how this works—grab the badge, link your post, and comment on the other blogs in the link-up.
Celebrating at the July 2026 Coffee Date
If we were having coffee, I would tell you that I am exhausted after three back-to-back trips and was celebrating a July at home until I remembered I have one more trip this week—an overnight to SFO because I just can’t do red-eyes.
It will be my third trip out of Dulles, and while it’s a bit further from home than National Airport, there’s at least one store where I can get my sparkling water.
If we were having coffee, I would ask if you’ve ever stayed at a hotel with a dress code. The Detroit Athletic Club has a strict “no denim” policy—including no denim jackets, no denim skirts, no denim anywhere—and gives out this card with your room key. 🙄
Thank goodness I never had to be escorted through the back corridors!
If we were having coffee, I would ask if you’ve ever had a shower in the middle of your hotel room? The San Diego Pendry is a very nice hotel, so this shower was out of place in many ways.
You need to draw the curtain to have any privacy in the shower!
Does it save that much space to not have a wall between the shower and the rest of the room?
If we were having coffee, I would ask if you’ve ever been victimized by Uber surge pricing? My flight to Detroit was delayed for nine hours after a ground stop there due to storms. I guess other flights also got in late, because the Uber trip into the city that cost my colleague $40 at 3 pm was more than three times that much at 11 pm.
Luckily it was a work trip!
Celebrating My Father-In-Law
If we were having coffee I would tell you more about my trip to Florida. After visiting my daughter we drove down to Sarasota to lay my father-in-law to rest as part of an Eternal Reef. They cast “reef balls” with an “egg” that holds cremated remains, and you can decorate the top with mementos. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law did that on Friday, and we went to see it and make rubbings of the plaque on Sunday.
On Monday, we joined 6 other families and took a boat a few miles out into the Gulf of Mexico, where another vessel was waiting.
My daughter with the flower arrangement she made on board.
They called each family to the bow one-by-one to say their last farewells as their loved one’s reef ball was lowered into the water. They are going to send us the GPS coordinates, and my daughter is already planning a dive trip to go see it.
It was very fitting for my father-in-law, who had done volunteer marine rescue (mostly turtles and manatees) in his retirement. ❤️🩹
Celebrating My Hip Diagnosis—Maybe
If we were having coffee, I would tell you that I am almost celebrating after my orthopedist appointment. She doesn’t think I have a labral tear, just soft tissue damage in a place that takes a while to heal. I’m signed up for PT and shockwave therapy to hopefully move the process along, but can’t start that until July 20.🤞
What are you celebrating?
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