Coffee Confession

Confession: I'm not sure I'm wild about the taste of coffee.  

Gasps are heard round the world, I know, because I drink it. Faithfully. I order lattes and mochas and no milk, no sugar iced coffees and I brew a pot every morning and I heat up cups throughout the day and I am not fully started on my work morning without a cup of Joe.

But I'm not convinced I love the taste.

I will drink weak coffee and strong coffee, and gas station coffee that has sat for days. I will try any road side coffee stand, even in the middle of the Yukon where a family from Seattle must try the mocha to give an honest Seattle Coffee Lovers opinion (which we smiled and said great and drove a few miles down the road and dumped it out the window).  I will drink it hot and cold and even room temperature.  I will drink it straight up black with no frills, or with a drop of cream or with a swirl of French Vanilla.  I will drink it up and down and sideways, one straw, two straws, no straw.

Yet I keep coming around to the idea that I don't love the taste.

I would question myself and ask if I'm an addict, but I can go days without it. I  can go camping and not suffer the unbearable withdrawals....but I miss it.  I miss the ritual of measuring the grounds and hearing the coffee pot start to perk.  I miss the aroma and the feel of holding a warm mug in my hand.  I miss that first bit of morning, when the world is quiet and I'm giving myself another 15 minutes to sit and relax and drink my coffee.

I like the comfortable routine of starting my day off with a cup of hot beverage.  And since I positively hate tea, coffee is for me!

This post is inspired by prompt #1 at Mama's Losin' It!

18 Years Ago Today

Here is where I get a little teary eyed and start looking for that elusive box of tissue.

Eighteen years ago today, right about now, I was starting day two of trying to have a baby.  Yesterday's induction didn't take and I was sick with preeclampsia and there wasn't much option for us at that point except to have a baby now.

I'd spent a restless night tossing and turning in the hospital bed, with my husband snoring next to me on the fold out chair, and I was so ready to be done.  Let's go, baby, I thought. Get a move on!

And now, it's been 18 years, in a blink of an eye.  That moment she was born, purple with the cord around her neck, to first days of preschool, middle school, high school, trips to Seaside, Washington DC, France, needing to be carried, needing to hold my hand, needing to snuggle in my bed, needing to borrow the car, needing to be grown, all has passed in an instant.

I'm standing here, looking at this amazing young woman, and I'm so proud of her.  She marches to her own drummer, always has, and I pray she always will!

Although, the tables have turned. I'm not the one saying "Let's go, get a move on!"  She is.  She is ready to cannonball into life!  I'll be at her side, with a towel and sunscreen, cheering her on.

Things I Want My Daughter To Know

I thought I'd close this chapter of our lives with a post of all the things I want my daughter to know before she takes that next leap into adulthood.  I started to make a list of, in my opinion, profound bits of wisdom, but one by one I crossed them off because the things I was writing, were things that she knows.

I've done my job then.  She knows all the things I wanted to impart.

Except, this one thing, that I know she will roll her eyes at and say "Mama," in that exasperated tone that only almost 18 year old girls can do, but this one thing is going to be true for the rest of her life. She might as well accept it.

She will always, always, always be my child, and I will never stop loving her or worrying about her or trying to help her in anyway I can.

That's what moms do.....we love our children.

To the Moon and Back, Leah.

Always.

One Giant Step Forward

It wasn't so very long ago that this lovely, grown-up person

Was this small

How time has flown by!

It feels like one day I turned around and it wasn't a little girl following in my footsteps,

It is a young woman quickly catching up to walk beside me.

I have been so lucky,

Blessed beyond measure,

To be her Mom.