every single winter

source *

As you all probably know, I really enjoy coffee. Some people drink it. Some people not only drink it, but enjoy it. That's me.

However, I hate being addicted to the caffeine. And it's inevitable…you will become addicted to the caffeine if you drink it everyday. My grandma laughed as she told me last week of once having dinner with some friends. She said she ordered a decaf with her supper and the couple ordered regular. She mentioned she couldn't drink regular that late in the evening, and the man said, "Oh, I can't ever drink decaf. It gives me a headache!" She and I laughed over this. Sorry sir, the decaf isn't giving you a headache…the lack of caffeine is giving you a headache!

All that to say, I used to be pretty hardcore about my coffee. I wrote THIS back in 2007. And ever since then, I really try and detox every year.

But then winter comes and gosh darnit! I'm right back to my old, addictive ways! When I was teaching in Louisville one of my favorite coworkers [and good friend] brought me a cup of coffee from Dunkin Donuts. How thoughtful! How generous! It sure beat the sludge I normally got in the teacher work room. That same day I started feeling horrible. A headache! Nauseous! I had to turn off the lights in my classroom to make it through the day. I made it home and crashed on the couch and pulled the shades. At about 5 o'clock I thought of something and sent my friend a text, "Was that decaf coffee you gave me this morning?!" Yep. And that is what had made me so miserable.

Like I said: I hate being THAT addicted to it! So I always try and quit.

Here's the coffee cycle for me:

1. Every Spring/early summer when it starts to really get hot outside my desire for a steaming cup of joe every morning dwindles. The sun is bright and shining, and a cool glass of ice water with cubes clinking sounds like "perfection" [name that reference]. But if I don't have my usual cup of coffee in the morning, my head SCREAMS at me. So I mix a little half-caf, and slowly wean out the caffeinated stuff. By the middle of June I can pretty much just drink decaf when I want it.

2. When I was teaching, August would roll around and I had to get out of bed early and so I'd start putting a little bit of caffeinated back in my decaf when I needed it, but still could do pretty well if I didn't have any.

3. BUT THEN… fall became winter…and winter is dreary. And cloudy. And cold. And a steaming cup of coffee is impossible to turn down when someone offers. And I remember how awesome the caffeine is in my system. And how great a pot brewing in the morning smells. And it's inevitable. Slowly I start drinking more and more coffee, and somehow every winter the decaf gets put away and I'm back on the caffeine train.

4. By February FORGET IT! I have to have my cup of coffee in the morning! If you make it decaf I'll cry!

5. And then it starts to warm up, I realize I'm addicted again…and decide it's time to wean myself….

It's a crazy cycle. It actually might just be crazy.

But it's what I do.
Every.
Single.
Year.

Now if you don't mind, I think I'll go brew a pot and begin my decline back into the pits of addiction…

Blythe enjoys my addiction with me though 

*the first sentence of the article under this picture was, "Coffee is a drug, we know that." Yes, yes I do.