Joe

April 2, 2018

Other than Sundays, Valentine’s Day was the last time I had coffee. Until today. I’ve given up coffee for Lent before, but for the first time, this year’s fast was a challenge. I didn’t miss the caffeine, but was surprised at how ubiquitous is the social dimension of coffee. Linda and I often start our morning with coffee together; she says it’s not the same when I have tea instead. Breakfast isn’t the same without coffee; meeting with friends has an inexplicably different feel to it. 

My dad was not a coffee drinker. He must have had it at least once, because he didn’t like it. Tea was his choice. When I was a kid, the church we attended held a work night every Monday evening. The men built the church themselves, and Mondays the guys gathered at 7:00 to do the wiring, plumbing, hanging drywall, and painting. The work stopped at 10:00, at which time Ozzie Palmer or Chuck Bassett would have the coffee and donuts ready. 

I cut my teeth on their unique blend of coffee. When I say, “cut my teeth,” I’m not exaggerating by much. They would put the percolator on the stove and brew up a fresh pot, and whatever was left from the week before was resurrected from the jug in the refrigerator and added to it. Each week’s coffee thus contained at least a drop or two of the original bean. You had to be tough to drink it. Black was worth extra points. 

As the sole tea drinker, instead of the ancient blend, the guys had a teabag tacked to an exposed stud in the yet unfinished kitchen that dad dutifully dunked in his cup week after week. Until the night they found a mummified mouse and tacked it to the wall by its tail. It almost made its way into his cup. Such is the strength of a coffee coalition.

Well, I’m back. I’ll probably go a bit easier on the caffeine for awhile; the break has been good, but it will also be good to sit down with family and friends and a good cup. I am grateful for the time away, and to be back. It’s simpler with joe.