The One About Coffee

My favorite aisle in the grocery store is the coffee aisle. I find it intoxicating. I have many a fond memory of coffee. I remember talking to my mom as she attempted to count the scoops into the coffee maker. Such great timing on my part. I never realized what a distraction I was until my girls started to do it to me. It makes me laugh every time.

I remember that I started to drink coffee in the seventh grade. Just a half a cup. But I had already developed a taste for it. My parents are from Providence and up thataway there is a magical thing that you can put in milk instead of chocolate syrup called coffee syrup. Oh it's sensational. You haven't had milk until you've had it with coffee syrup, so sweet, so addictive. It's no wonder.

Surprised that my favorite ice cream flavor is coffee? Oh, come now. I'm sure they started me on that very early. I remember when I first moved to Tennessee it was so hard to find. And I would ask for iced coffee and people would look at me like I was crazy. Thank goodness there are now many coffee shops and it's all the rage. Thank goodness the rest of the world caught up with me and mine.

Yes, I started my girls on coffee ice cream early on. Unfortunately, they will choose vanilla first. That is a bit ponderous but I feel certain they will grow out of that. Jenna does like coffee and tea. I do not intentionally caffeinate my three-year-old. I just thought I would stop her from trying to drink my iced coffee so I told her to help herself. And, turns out, she liked it. So now I have to keep her from it. What can I say? She knows a good thing when she tastes it.

I adore chocolate-covered coffee beans. But those suckers will leave telltale signs between your teeth. Got to hide the evidence with those puppies.

I am particular about my coffee too. Coffee snob? Yes. I won't just drink ordinary swill. It has to be strong enough to put hair on my chest, as my dad would say. It has to be chock full-o-Splenda because I likes it sweet. And I like my sugar free creamers too. Flavor it up. And sometimes I just turn myself completely over to Joey or Alexandra at Poet's in Cookeville. I tell them my desires and they turn them into reality. And then I try to control my overwhelming desire to touch Joey's hair. So far I have succeeded. But one day I won't be strong enough.

My love of coffee beans is shared by my Nathan, my addiction to coffee is shared by my Brien and Beth, my hairdresser Cindy, my friend gastric bypass buddy Shawn. That reminds me Shawn, you stood me up on a coffee date. Sure, it was valid. But you still owe me. And where coffee is concerned, I am not likely to forget.