Wednesday, April 17, 2013

The Power of Coffee


I’ve been sick. It’s one of those nasty spring viruses that you catch just when you think you’ve made it through the winter. So I’ve spent some time on the couch, sneezing, feverish, etc. But I have made an observation. My family needs me. Here’s why.

1. Someone will cook dinner. Which is wonderful. That someone, however, does not care about vegetables. I make sure we have veggies.

2. Someone will fold the laundry. But they will not fold socks. Socks are viewed with great suspicion and remain in a pile on the bottom of the laundry basket. I suspect that the socks would eventually get folded, but not until everyone ran out of them. I always fold socks. And I know which socks belong to whom.

3. No one waters the plants. Okay, that might be because I have exotic plants with special needs—my laundry room has labeled water jugs, fertilizers, stakes, etc. But still, without me the plants would die and then my family wouldn’t get to enjoy the orchids, African violets, and tropical pitcher plant.

4. No one will throw out the junk mail. It simply gets moved from one place to another and grows. I throw it out as soon as it comes in the front door.

5. No one can do the morning coffee like I can. Everyone knows how to make it. But only I can get the portions just right. And only I can pour. Seriously. Only I can make the coffee come out evenly into six cups. There is nothing more critical first thing in the morning than making sure everyone gets their fair share of coffee. On Monday, one of the minions did not pour the coffee correctly. Great gnashing of teeth followed. Even encouragements to “just make another pot” do not adequately deal with the fact that the coffee wasn’t poured right. And we all know, if the morning coffee ain’t right, ain’t nothing gonna go right today.


File:A small cup of coffee.JPG
Photo Julius Schorzman courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

7 comments:

  1. This post could have been more accurately labeled "The Power of Mama." LOL. Our families appreciate the quiet superpowers we use most days only when we aren't there to do them.

    Get well soon!

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  2. 6 cups of coffee every morning? How do you have that many people in your house that need coffee every morning?

    I try to not even bring the junk mail into the house. Homes are breeding grounds for the stuff, so you have to dump it in the can before coming in with the mail.

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  3. I'm sorry you've been sick--that's no fun at all, but it's nice to have some help, even though they need you and cannot make coffee ;-)

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  4. Andrew, besides my husband and I, we have three college kids living at home (we have a wonderful university less than five miles from our home--so they save a lot of money living at home) and one son who's almost 17. Six coffee drinkers.

    But in all honesty, my kids have had coffee since they were little--my mother is from Europe and I learned to drink good coffee as soon as I could hold a coffee cup. So that's what I did with my kids too (albeit with lots of milk added in).

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  5. That's impressive.
    My oldest drinks coffee, maybe, once a month, despite the fact that we encourage him to drink it.
    My younger son isn't interested in it.
    My daughter, who is about to turn 10, would love to drink coffee, but she's already too active for us to keep up with.

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  6. There's no replacement for Mom. ;)

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  7. You know which socks belong to which person? Incredible. I don't have a clue. Feel better soon!

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