Not only did I use my brand new credit card (still a college student, by the way! Thanks, Mom!) but I used it to purchase the most grown-up thing I could think of – a coffee pot. Take that, hot pot that could be used for ramen noodles or cocoa! A coffee pot was a sure sign of maturity.
This was before the culture of coffee took off and made coffee drinking (not to mention ordering) an art form. This was a long time ago – when coffee was black and coffee flavored and came in three sizes. Small. Medium. Large. Owning a Mr. Coffee put me ahead of the curve in my dorm. It allowed me to supply my friends with our current drug of choice, caffeine. I brewed coffee for the morning rush to class and I brewed coffee for the late night study sessions. I was a barista way before I ever heard the word.
Coffee continues to be a part of my life. Not so much for the caffeine boost – although I still require a cup or two to fire on all cylinders – I enjoy it for the ritual of the coffee. From the sound of the water heating and rushing through my Keurig machine to the first sip of the hot liquid, the steps involved take on a comforting, familiar cadence in my life. It is one way I recognize that the new day has officially begun.
Last week, I was meeting someone at a local coffee shop. The meeting, in some ways, symbolized a new beginning for me and right before the appointment was to begin I took my first sip of the large coffee I ordered. The cover was not on the travel cup and I found myself drenched and burning in a bath of coffee. My guest arrived in time to see me dancing about from the heat, mopping at my clothing with napkins and muttering to myself. Clearly, this was not the way I had intended to begin the meeting.
Coffee represents to me new beginnings, and I suppose that my being baptized in coffee was an appropriate way to start again after all......