I quit (again!)

Today is the perfect day to sit and veg out. With a cup of coffee. It is cold (68 degrees,) and it is raining. When you live in Southern California, 68 degrees is cold. You will actually see people wearing jackets, sweatshirts, sometimes scarfs and Ugg boots. I didn't think this was abnormal until I moved to New Jersey five years ago. I experienced real winters there.

While most people like to sit in front of a fire place and sip cups of yummy hot chocolate on cold days, I'd rather have some coffee. I am 30 years old, and I didn't start drinking coffee until I got married. That was 5 years ago. When I met Benny, he and his clan of friends from New Jersey lived on caffeine. At that time, interestingly, I was working at a popular chain coffee shop here in LA. I served, made, ground coffee for a living. But I never had a sip of it. I've had coffee-flavored drinks, but never straight coffee. The thought of swallowing a 12-oz cup of bitter brown water was not exactly appealing. That said, I always used my employee discount to get Benny and his friends pounds and pounds of coffee. I never understood their smiling faces as they received the packages. Now I do.

Over the past few years, I became accustomed to the smell and the taste of coffee, and I actually enjoyed it. While Benny had to make a cup of coffee for himself first thing in the morning, I could go with or without it. In other words, I never had any caffeine-withdraw should I choose not to have coffee for a day. Drinking coffee was a social thing for me; no addictions involved.

Benny, on the other hand, needed his daily dose of caffeine in order to start his day. Without it, he gets horrible headaches. Because he realized this has become such an unhealthy habit, he's vowed to quit. Many times. Being his wife, I lovingly supported him the first time. Then came the second time, then third. Each time ended in such a struggle, he didn't want to tell me he had given up. With each relapse (for a lack of better word,) I lovingly tried to tell him just forget about quitting. Drinking coffee is not bad, if he only sticks to 1 cup a day.

Well. A few days ago he's vowed to quite again. This time is because he's tired of how coffee stains teeth. He's tired of having to brush his teeth every time after he's had a cup of Joe; he's also tired (again) of the headaches he's had to deal with. For the 5th time (or 6th, I can't remember,) he's vowed to quit coffee. It's a bit comical to see this is such a hardship for him, although he is very serious about it.

I, however, will continue to enjoy my cups of coffee, especially on a cold day like this.