Ok, today I’m abandoning serious, deep thoughts.

Though coffee

is serious business, folks.

A good cup of coffee can start a day off perfectly; and a bad one can ruin it.

We don’t want that now, do we?

I could just end this post now by saying you should go here to get your coffee, but even as an employee of that place, there are other good coffee places out there, too. Though I really like Firefly.

Coffee really became part of my life when I worked at Caribou the year before we went overseas.

I mean, I drank it in college (what college student doesn’t?!) but it was there that I really learned to appreciate the finer points of pulling the perfect espresso shot, the proper amount

of froth for a latte, and what a true macchiato actually is. (And for the record, folks, it does not involve caramel sauce, though that IS tasty stuff!

;))

In Indonesia, coffee became even more important.

Yes, I drank it every morning…it’s kind of necessary for surviving life as a teacher.

But it also became that thing…when I needed some girl time, we’d all go out for coffee just to talk and laugh.

When Tobin and I went on a date, it almost always included Starbucks. We’d take our cribbage board with us and play a few rounds while sipping our usual…an iced Caramel Macchiato for him, a skim  hazelnut latte for me.

When I was having a bad day, I’d get Becky and we’d hop on a bike and go down to Starbucks (or Excelso…mmm, I miss that place!) for some caffeine, some laughs, some tears, and some heart-healing.

Even here, coffee is kind of what helped me fit in. It was only after going out for coffee with a few different friends that I finally started feeling like I belonged.

And my job and making connections through that is helping, too.

So whether I was being serious or not when I started this post is debatable.

😉

But, I AM thankful for coffee.

I’m thankful for a lot of other things, too, which you can read about here, at my new post for the Patch.