A few months ago, mom went off the UK as she does periodically.
It isn’t until she leaves that I really start to take notice of all the things she does around here, things that often go unnoticed and taken for granted. Things like:
• The towels always being folded and placed nicely in their drawers…as opposed to rumpled and stuffed in.
• The toilet paper roll always being replaced and hardly ever being empty…as opposed to 3 or 4 empty rolls sitting by.
• The printer always having paper…as opposed to running out and wondering where the paper is.
• The paper towels always being fully stocked…as opposed to, you guessed it, it being empty and me standing by clueless as to what to do next.
So up until this point, apparently mom has had the duties of paper stocking all to herself…
But today, I realized something important that she does that I never really noticed before.
Making coffee.
If you don’t know me, coffee is a very important part of my life. I could go on and on about coffee, but I will spare you the rant and just say: Me and coffee. That is all.
Normally, when I come to the shop -there is a pot of coffee made. Often times, there is even a fresh cup of coffee sitting at my desk waiting for me, because there is this unspoken rule about not talking to me until I have had coffee. Usually a cup of coffee on my desk means there is something important that needs to be discussed, and would you get with it already and drink it so we can talk? But I digress.
Thanks to parents who believe in getting up super early, I have never come to the shop and had no coffee. With mom out of town, dad has taken the duties of coffee making in the morning and my routine has been uninterrupted.
I get up. Come to the shop. Drink coffee. Rinse. Lather. Repeat.
Until today.
Today there was no coffee in the pot.
I stood there, puzzled, briefly. Jabbing random buttons hoping to make the liquid gold appear, magically, as it always does -to no avail. Which is when I realized. I would have to make coffee. Before having coffee.
Now, I realize this is a task most coffee drinkers are faced with daily. Some even going as far as setting up their coffee pots the night before, to brew in the morning to save them from such a tragic event…but like I have mentioned, I previously had no need for this. There was always coffee in the pot.
This isn’t to say I don’t know HOW to make coffee, I make multiple pots a day. This is to say I have rarely had to make coffee BEFORE having my coffee. Follow?
So there I stood. Helpless. Defeated by Mr. Coffee, my dear and oldest friend.
It took longer than it should have…I tipped over the water container (which also, apparently, does not fill itself), ground the beans – and walked away.
About an hour later I returned to realize there was still no coffee…
Unamused, I grabbed the grinder to grind some beans -when I realized: there were beans already ground! Apparently, I had forgotten to take the next step of putting them in the coffee pot. Who knew?
A few more steps later, a happy beep from the coffee machine and liquid gold was pouring forth.
All this is to say –mom, you need to come home. The towel drawer won’t shut right, the toilet paper rolls are empty…and I can’t survive without coffee!
Or, you know, in other words…thanks mom, for all you do. Especially on the coffee front!
Tangled Thoughts 