Black Beauty

coffee + apron
Originally uploaded by ali edwards

Sip...Ahhhhhhhh. (Just don't do that too loudly, or you'll annoy your husband).

This year, for Lent, I gave up coffee. (As much to curb my daily sugar load as anything else. Triple, triple, anyone?) It was a LONG forty days. But it was something I knew was good for my health, as well as that of the planet. Most of all, as a true addict, it was a good test of willpower and my ability to set a goal and stick to it.

It felt really good to get off the bean. Well, okay, it felt really BAD at first, but after the first four days, I was off to the races! In fact, I felt so good that I began to think that maybe, after the forty days were up, I might just give up coffee for good.

Um, about that.

I haven't gone a day without a coffee since Easter. And my intentions to reduce the sugar-coffee ratio? Not so good, either.

Why do we love our coffee so dearly? What is it about this black beauty that compels us so insistently? Many people would say it's the caffeine, but I think it goes deeper than that.

For me, my hands wrapped around my steaming morning coffee, I'm back at the kitchen table, a little girl reading the back of the cereal box, the aroma of coffee filling the kitchen. Dad looks over and smiles at me before gulping his coffee.
Sip...Ahhhhhh.