I Should Be Drinking Coffee

I should be drinking coffee right now.  More importantly, I should be pulling a homemade pumpkin pie out of the oven right now.  But sadly, neither of those things is happening.

Instead, I am writing to you, dear family and friends, because other than go to bed at 5:00 in the evening, I'm not quite sure what to do with myself.  I am genuinely too tired to do anything more productive than sit on my computer and type.  In all fairness, this could, from a certain perspective, be considered productive, particularly given that I could also be sitting on my computer scrolling through endless posts on Tumblr, or else watching an unlimited supply of television shows on Netflix.

But why, you ask, am I not drinking coffee?  Why, oh why, is there no pie?  (I did not mean for that sentence to rhyme….)  I will tell you.  First and foremost, there is no coffee because for the past week there has been no coffee.  What madness is this?  What depraved soul has stolen my coffee maker?  What utter and hopeless poverty has reduced me to avoiding Starbucks?  Well…it's all on me, actually.  There is even a bag of whole coffee beans sitting in my cupboard, right this very moment, waiting for me to take it to the nearest Starbucks to be ground.  The fact is, I am convinced that I get too much caffeine.  It is causing my skin to look like that of a pubescent teenager, and it is making me as jittery as my sophomore geometry teacher, a woman who could draw a nearly perfect circle on the overhead with positively quaking hands (a fascinating creature, truly).  So.  For the foreseeable future, no coffee.

BUM BUM BUM!

I know; I know.  How will I ever go on?  The cravings are killing me, and I am unquestionably sluggish throughout the day.  But for now, it is for the best.  To curb my cravings, I opt for other delightful winter beverages, such as hot apple cider or hot cocoa. 

But what about the pie?  May I just say, I have been intending, even trying, to bake a pumpkin pie since I returned from the tour a month ago?  No really.  I quite honestly have been.  But for a while, I was too depressed to bake.  Then too busy.  Then too tired.  Then I was going home and had other things to worry about.  This week, nearly every day, I have intended to bake that blasted pie, but there has been one thing stopping me: ingredients.  Every time I have had time to go to the store, I have checked for those last remaining, ever elusive final ingredients.  They shouldn't even be difficult to attain, but I suppose you can't really say that about anything the week of Thanksgiving.  Good luck to anyone trying to find ground Cinnamon or ground Ginger this week.  't ain't gonna happen.  Or at least it didn't happen for me.  But I shall continue trying, if only because I have EVERY OTHER INGREDIENT EXCEPT THOSE TWO!  It is absolutely maddening, I tell you.  It is like being Super Mario and beating your way through every castle only to discover that Bowser has kidnapped Princess Peach—again—and moved her to a different castle.  Again.  I will make that dratted pumpkin pie and rescue the princess if it is the last thing I do!

Tomorrow, I shall cave in and go to the expensive grocery store to see if they have cinnamon and ginger.  (Also, before anyone suggests it, yes, I have been scouring the shelves for the convenient jars of "Pumpkin Pie Spice" as well, which you would be correct in claiming as a valid substitute.)

But meanwhile, even without pie—and still more shockingly, without coffee—life goes on.  And trust me, no one is more surprised to learn that than myself.  I have been working at the YMCA since my less-than-grand return from the tour.   It was a blessing to be able to return to a job I love as much as this one, and even though I am perpetually worn out and perfumed with chlorine, it is worth it.  The Y has been such a blessing to me this year.  Besides being the job that keeps my life stable, it is also where I made my first real friends in Chicago, something for which I am continually grateful.  (Yes, that was my little, "What I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving is…" moment.)

And that's all I've really got to say right now.  I miss coffee.  I'm probably going to start drinking it again in a couple of weeks.  Until then, let the exhaustion continue.