There are days when I don't know what I would do without coffee. Today being one of them. I don't think the world would function without coffee. It gets us through late nights and hungover mornings. It creates opportunities for social get-togethers. It warms us on a winter day, or cools us in the hot summer. Besides water (and maybe, wine) we need coffee to survive.
The smell of coffee is one of my most favorite smells in the world. It smells like a crisp, fall morning and feels like a warm sweater, hugging you tight. Even in the midst of summer, the smell of coffee lets me escape the heat for just a moment, as I picture myself relaxing by a cozy fire.
Coffee also reminds me of Saturday mornings as a kid. Every Saturday morning my dad took my sister and I to the dump and then to Dunkin' Donuts. I would get not one, but TWO donuts and chocolate milk (this would explain my chubby belly until 8th grade). I obviously didn't drink coffee yet, but I still remember the smell of my Dad's black coffee and thinking he looked so cool and adult-like. I couldn't wait until the day when I was "grown up enough" to drink coffee.
I had to ease my way into regular coffee consumption. It started when I was in about 7th or 8th grade. First it was the Coffee Coolatta's, then the vanilla lattes at Starbucks, neither of which are real coffee. I remember strutting around with my Starbucks iced vanilla latte, thinking I was so sophisticated, like a celebrity walking with shopping bags and coffee in hand.
And then college started, and I learned the real value of coffee. Survival. This is when I became a real coffee-drinker. Just coffee with a little skim milk. No frills, no sugar.
Since then, I usually have a cup a day, regardless of whether I really need it. There are many days when I feel perfectly awake and alert, but I am convinced that I still need coffee (I think that means I am addicted?...) But it's not just the caffeine jolt that I look forward to everyday, it's the memories and the brief sense of comfort I feel in the first couple of sips.
I really like your thoughts about coffee. It's such a refreshing smell and I love the thought of waking up and drinking coffee in the morning. You make me want to start drinking real coffee!
ReplyDeleteI can't go a day without coffee now, it has become a need for me as well. My first cups of coffee weren't until sophomore year of college, when I would drink the awful blends made at McElroy.
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