Cold Coffee All Day. Every Day
Doesn’t matter how you order it…it’s gonna be cold.
One of the things that I have asked of my husband, in lieu of gifts of the most lavish, expensive, and romantical kind such flowers and jewelry or big fancy occasions out on the town, is to help me with the beginning of each day and bring me a cup of coffee in the morning. And y’all, my husband is years into being faithful in bringing me that first cup of murder antidote! It started when the quarantimes came and we bunkered down together for pandemic teaching before we ditched school on a Wednesday to get married. But, that is a whole other story for a whole other blog post…let’s get back to that coffee.
Do you have a coffee order? Even if you don’t drink coffee, my Momma was not a coffee drinker so no flame – no shame here, I would be willing to bet you gotta drink order though. Don’t you just hate it when that cup of comfort tastes like a mess? So, why in the world would my fictional diner serve terrible coffee? It doesn’t. It’s just cold. Doesn’t matter how you order it, you get it when it is room temperature cold.
My husband knows how to make me a cup of coffee that is absolutely perfect, and it takes me from the time I wake up until I get to work to drink that entire cup of coffee, if not longer. If I have time prior to leaving the house, I might add more to it, but more times than not, I brew a small pot that contains the second helping in my office. And yet, I still drink cold coffee all day long. I know, y’all are just thinking I don’t drink it fast enough, but I am super unwilling to chug a hot cup o joe like I was a 90’s college student at a frat party chugging beer. Those days are behind us folks, I had to give that up and play my part in the great big adult world. So cold coffee just became a thing that I embraced as part of my teacher’s life. But then, it was like, my whole life. At the writing of this post, I am more than halfway through summer break, and I realize that just this morning, after having slept in a bit, drinking my morning coffee and reading for a couple of hours, I let the coffee cool while I read and took notes. Then, I drank it cold. I examined my classroom and studio habits and found the same. That cup is often just sitting there cooling away as I meet with students, work through live demonstrations with student groups, helping with clean up, and monitoring work submissions. Then, I drink it cold.
It has become who I am. A quirk, if you will…I can give my attention to meaningful things or I can drink hot coffee. Please know, I am not complaining or bragging about not getting to drink hot coffee, it won’t happen at this point anyway. Some things are the way they are and that’s it. I learned that lesson from my best friend who happened to be the teacher bestie next door for a while. I want you more than anything to realize that sometimes people just do things differently and that is okay. Conformity kills creativity. I am sure that there are others out there, the cold coffee drinkers…with lives that are scheduled within a fraction of time, the engaged teachers who interact with students on a consistent basis, moms with a to do list a mile long and wide, or readers who get so engrossed in the story that cup of coffee is a reality escaped from three chapters ago, and lest we forget the artist who has drank the paint water by accident more times than they would like to admit. If that ain’t a tribe, what is?!