SOLSC '23 Day 27: Coffee evolution

 

First memories of

cold half-cups

light-brown, sweet,

left by my father

off to work before 

I got up for school.

I don't know why my

mother let me drink it, 

but she did.

Then, the plastic

demitasse cups, brown

with a paper lid, 

wooden spoon attached

cold coffee ice cream

eaten poolside on the

Armed Forces base

in Naples, Italy

still my favorite flavor.

Instant coffee in 

the dorm room, made with

water heated in an

electric coffee pot

Sweet-n-Low and

powdered creamer

powered me through

loaded schedules and 

late-night cramming.

Coffee from the

teachers' lounge

bitter, made better with

International Delight

paired with the yeasty rolls

the cafeteria ladies would

sell for a quarter.

Mr Coffee on my counter

a full pot shared with my

husband, before we

head off to work in different 

directions.

Decaf coffee, for six months of

pregnancy, and

two months of pumping,

a few months of nursing.

Coffee from the nurses' lounge

powering me through

twelve-hour weekend shifts

cleaning isolettes and

manning the front desk.

Decaf coffee once again

in deference to child 

number two

returning to full caffeine

when a week of sleepless

nights turned into months

years, six of them

before we all learned to sleep.

Coffee carried in thermal

travel containers

that took almost half

of the Mr Coffee carafe.

And now...

coffee from a little mini-pot

because I wake up two hours

before my husband

and he prefers his fresh

I add collagen, stevia,

a splash of sugar-free Torani

and enough half-and-half to

make my cup as light

as those first cups of

my father's coffee.