What's the best part of waking up?

COFFEE


One cup of weak instant, that’s all it takes now to wake me up. Used to be a whole pot of dark roast, or endless miniature white mugs of café Cubano; so sweet the sugar rush was as strong as the caffeine. Back in the day.

I tell my friends, “don’t call before ten, I haven’t even had my coffee.” But really how much oomph is in a teaspoon of instant?

That coffee thing -- that’s just my cover story. For my friends and for myself – a cup to hold in my hands and sip from while I sit on the back porch and stare out at the birds and the tree and the wind.

The real ritual that wakes me up now is that starring –pause – picking up my pen and writing in my journal -- pause – letting my mind wander along it’s strange and delightful paths. – pause – Just me and my brain and the writing. Coffee is just my cover.

Don’t tell, okay?