Thankful Thursday - Coffee

 

For many, many years, I could not stand coffee.   My mom and dad both drank cups of it in the morning, but I never had any desire to join them.  I jokingly blamed it on all the coffee ice cream my mom ate while she was pregnant.  It didn't get any more palatable to me when I was in high school, working the breakfast shift at McDonald's.  I made so many urns of coffee, handed out so many cups, and refilled so many more that if I never had to touch another drop, I'd be happy.

I can't even say when, exactly, I started drinking it.  I know that I didn't even by my first coffeemaker until Rich and I had moved to Nashville 16 years ago.  And even then, there were months that went by without us using it.  But an occasional pot was made here and there, especially when either my or Rich's family were in town.  I also know that it wasn't until flavored coffee and flavored creamers became the norm.  Because I still don't like the flavor of coffee.

Ever since March of last year, though, coffee has become a ritual almost every morning.  It helps that Rich has been working from home more often than he has been working from the office.  He would usually have a cup when he got to work, so he's started making pots in the morning so we both can have some.  We're usually buying new bottles of flavored creamer once or twice a week (not because we drink that much coffee but because we put a LOT of creamer in our coffee).  It's become a regular start to my morning, sipping on it while working on various things on the computer.  

So why did I choose to talk about coffee for this week's Thankful Thursday?  Because today starts a virtual gaming convention.  It's based out of Ireland, which means the times of the game slots are not completely set to US times.  For three nights, I will be up until after midnight, having a great time.  Then I'll be back up the next morning to get some things finished (Tax Free Weekend, baby!) before starting another game at 1.  And coffee is going to be a big part of my diet to keep me ready for whatever vagaries this con throws at me.

Yeah, today I'm really thankful for coffee and it's ability to keep me from falling asleep on my computer.