There’s a gremlin in my coffee pot and he struck again this morning. I do everything that I’m supposed to do; put in the proper amount of water, set the right buttons and I even put in my favorite flavor of coffee to ensure that I’m really enjoying my first cup of the morning. And what happens? I only get half cup water of coffee! Where did the rest of the water go, how can it just disappear? After closely looking around, I find that there is no puddle of water behind the coffee maker it’s just gone! This isn’t the first time this has happened to me, either.

How can I possibly function this early in the morning without a full cup of hot coffee? We Americans are so used to having our coffee in the morning, it’s almost an addiction. You can follow some cars first thing in the morning and they’re either turning into Mickey D’s to get that hot cup of coffee or they’re ready to wait in line at Starbucks for the special brews. Most advertisements that we see that show someone starting their day off with a cup full of that hot luscious brew. Now, not everybody starts their day with coffee; there are other types of liquid addictions. There are some people who start with a can of sugary soda, others start with a hot cup of Earl Gray Tea, but we all want something refreshing in the morning to get our minds turning and our bodies moving.
Are we addicted to caffeine, or is it all psychological? The media plays such an important factor in our life; if you look you’ll find coffee cups in commercials and throughout the shows we watch. And as a writer we seem to be just as addictive this habit as the next guy. The writer is often portrayed as someone who will sit down to their desk with a pad of paper and a cup of coffee, ready to work for hours writing the great American novel.
So, about my Gremlin problem…do I get a new coffee pot do I go back to the old-fashioned way of making a pot of coffee on the stove top? Will I ever get that missing half cup of coffee?
What about you? How do you start your day: are you a coffee, tea or soda person? Or, are you one of those lucky few that you just get up and grab a glass of OJ and start your day with “bright eyes and a bushy tail”?