At the bottom of the cup

At my age, there are some things that are a given. Sleep becomes a luxury, and many of us become quite close to coffee. It's amazing really, how coffee and I started off.

I didn't initially like coffee; in fact, I hated it. I didn’t realize how much I liked it until I found myself going back for a cup. Eventually I came to love coffee without even realizing it. Actually, I did realize it the first time I had to do without it for more than a day. You might ask yourself why I love coffee. That’s a good question. Coffee never climbed a mountain with me. Coffee might have been there when I saw the pyramids, but it stayed in the room. Coffee never saved my life... well, wait, the jury is still out on that one...

Coffee has been right there, holding me up and helping me go on when I thought I couldn’t. It made me get out of bed when all I wanted to do was sleep -- gave me a reason to wake up, so to speak.

Unfortunately, I realize that I take coffee for granted. When something is around long enough, that sometimes happens. It becomes a part of you, like an arm or a leg. You just expect it to be there waiting for you. It always has been, and for some silly reason, you feel that it always will be. You give no thought to it at all.

Of course you never realize how much you need coffee... love coffee... can’t go without coffee... 'til you do without it for a while. Then it all becomes crystal clear. You can't really live without coffee. Sometimes that realization comes on slowly -- sneaks up on you or something. Sometimes it hits you all at once.

It's amazing the metaphors one finds in life.

That... and I just found out that I’m out of coffee.