I was sitting on my couch, looking out into the woods across the street enjoying the snow flocked view and contemplating the bottom of my mug and the need to refill it, but Kali was curled up next to me with her head and paw on my lap. I really didn’t need another cup of coffee and decided that I would give up caffeine once again. Eventually I start anew because of a long trip or what else would you order while writing in a Starbucks while on the road?
Eventually, I forced the leaden pooch off my lap and back to the floor so I could rise up and fill my mug one last time and start my chores. After fifteen minutes of staging materials for retiling the upstairs shower/tub, I thought, where did I leave my coffee? I wandered through the house searching everywhere I’d been, but no cup. Of course, it was in the microwave and I had ignored the multiple reminder beeps. About a month ago I found two mugs in my office microwave. It sits lower than my line of sight, so the first went unnoticed when I placed the second one in days later.
This happens because I make a primitive form of espresso using a French press, then add cold water to make an Americano. If I do not stand in front of the microwave for the minute it takes to warm the mixture, there is a good chance I’ll end up playing the game “Where’s My Coffee?” in about ten or fifteen minutes.
It isn’t so much that I am absent minded, but rather in the moment most of my day. Laying something down and moving on to the next thing is an invitation to forget about the object because it is no longer useful for what I am doing—now, be it a physical chore or writing the next chapter of my novel.
Clarity of mind and purpose can be enhanced by coffee, but I don’t need it to get there, so I might as well let it go. Again. For now.