Thirty-One Things - Drink

So much of life is centered on food and/or drink (whether or not that is a good thing).  I remember at age 20 being bored at a party and getting bombed on straight gin BUT I also know how God used it for good.  From that experience, I never could acquire a taste for alcohol.

No…my drink is coffee.  Coffee is not just a drink; it’s an experience!  I first learned to drink coffee on my first full time job. Forty hours a week at First National Bank of Akron, manually looking up credit ratings on index cards for branches and other banks.  [I will always remember “Harry Mann on Dick Street.]  Coffee then was majorly creamed and sugared.  Moving on to BFGoodrich, it was a way to break up the day.  A quarter in the vending machine down the hall, rank coffee in a thin paper cup, then walk back to the desk…sometimes with Lantz peanut butter crackers.  I had then switched to black.

Some of my best conversations have been around coffee.  It’s easier to speak deeply and listen intently when you are not fiddling around with silverware and balancing food and only talking when you’re mouth isn’t full.  That includes conversing and listening to myself.

As an introvert, I have spent many hours in a coffee shop with my books, my journal, and my Bible…especially when I was renting an apartment. Now a days, I can enjoy that same pleasure on the porch, on the deck, or inside of my home.  When Ed came into my life, we often would go to Caribou or Arabica with our Bibles and write. 

Coffee brings people together. Some of my most meaningful times with my dearest friends have been over coffee.  Heather gave me insight into how good TGIFridays coffee is. I discovered that Swenson’s coffee is top notch, i.e., Douwe Egberts until recently not even available outside of a restaurant purchase. Coffee with the right person can energize me, validate me, slow me down, bring laughter, provide insight, provide me with alternative ideas and solutions, and encourage Christian fellowship.