DAY 86 - Smell The Coffee But Don’t Drink It

My son, Kenn, got me addicted to the stuff. I am not suggesting that he meant to. It was all quite loving and innocent. Returning from a year in Costa Rica, he brought gifts for his sister, his mom and me. I have no memory of what they got, but I remember mine; it changed my life.

As a child, I was attracted to things my parents, and other adults did. I wanted to smoke, and drink coffee. But, the coffee tasted so bad, and the smoking is for another story.

I did not drink coffee, ever, until age 43, the summer of 1995. Even then, it was not with relish; I was just trying to be gracious in accepting the gift that my son had brought from Costa Rica. The gift had 2 parts; a couple of pounds of coffee beans, and a rudimentary drip-coffee maker constructed of a simple cloth bag hung from a piece of heavy, twisted wire that was stuck in a small flat piece of wood.

Things started out slowly. I could only make one cup at a time with the bag on a wire. For the first year, or so, I would make a cup every other day. Before long it was daily; and then more than one cup per day. I graduated to a French press, allowing me to make 4 cups at a time. I was hooked. I even liked it.

So now, its December 29, 2010, and I have a sense that coffee may not be doing me good. I wonder if it is making my knee worse. It certainly wires me at times. I need to take a break, do an experiment, and remove coffee from my diet for a while. During December I have considered setting a date and going cold-turkey for a month. Some days I thought I would do it. Some days I didn’t think I could face it.

Today, with Gail’s help (a patient off-of-coffee), I am in; I’m public. I will be 100% off of coffee from January 1 until midnight of January 31st. Should be an interesting ride.

Anybody going to join me on the 31 days without?  Post your YES or NO to the comments at the end of this book/blog post.

Could you do it? It is not a healthy sign when a food or drink owns you.