Couldn’t Think of a Clever Title: Just Coffee

 Okay, so I lied when I said I have only one vice. My other vice is coffee (really any caffeine). And yes, as a recovering alcoholic I drink a lot of coffee, even though I don’t attend AA, and now even more than ever. Obviously I’m a coffee in the morning person, and I like it that way. I’ve been doing that since college. I loved filling up a paper cup and carrying it around campus and taking it to class. In my senior art class my professor, Dr Hough, kept a coffee maker in the classroom. One of my classmates reported that his hands would literally shake while he was using the jigsaw in the wood shop; it scared her ( she was sweet, her name was Larissa and she painted sea turtles). I did notice that if I drank it in the evening it would interfere with my sleep, so I’d only indulge if I was staying up late working on a paper. The cafeteria had a giant pump of hazelnut creamer, next to two big urns of Joe. I realize now that stuff was weak compared to the way I like it now. Coming on strong! Coming in hot! Lately I’ve been drinking it black, and as I write this I’m literally out of coffee creamer and I don’t care. I’m tired of French vanilla and hazelnut. I have a bag of blueberry flavor coffee, which my sister turned me on to when she got a large iced blueberry coffee from Dunkin Donuts. But I rarely make it. I really like Folgers, but Maxwell House is cheaper. Growing up my dad was a Folgers man, but my mom said it gave her the jitters, so she prefers MH. I don’t remember ever drinking coffee in high school, but I did have it for the first time at my grandparents when I was a teenager. The first time it made me sick (like any good drug will do), but I got over that soon. There was always a 12 cup pot of coffee ready first thing and my grandparents owned a lot of cool, cute coffee mugs. My grandpa put a lot of sugar in his, you wouldn’t believe anybody could drink it like that. But there was always sugar and milk available, and when it wasn’t coffee it was mate (read “Roots”). Haven’t drank that in a long time. 

When I have the money I get a medium midnight with cream and sugar from DD; I love the flavor. They just opened up a Foxtail Coffee by Aunt Catfish, so I’ve been there several times with my iPad. When John and I walk Beach Street I always stop at Copperline Coffee. But nothing was like the espresso I got from Mama Canolis food truck on the Fourth of July. It was as close as I got to being high while I’ve been sober. And I’ve been chasing that high ever since with each caffeinated beverage I consume. So I guess I’m addicted. 

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