10 PM Coffee

 

A bit late for a cup of java, you say?  Well, not when you work night shift, husband is sleeping and your solo shift ends at 2 AM. 

Prior to 2012, I had not been a coffee drinker for 20+ years.  What changed in 2012?  Hurricane Irene visited us in New Jersey.  The morning after the storm, we went to a local café for a hot meal.  Dave ordered a cup of coffee and the waitress brought two.  I wasn’t going to drink it, but Dave encouraged me, saying something like “It’s hot and the caffeine will do you some good.”  This was after spending the night in the cab of our truck with RV hitched up, parked behind a school for shelter while Irene blew and rained around us.  I learned one can indeed sleep, for brief periods of time, slumped over the center console in a Ford F-350 with a Hurricane raging outside.  Who knew?

I drank that cup of steaming java and, man, was it good.  On the heels of Irene came Tropical Storm Lee and then a powerful Nor’easter and, yes, I would have a cup of coffee now and then during those times.  We would be without power and thoughtful visitors to the site would occasionally bring coffee from a nearby store.

So then I began to drink coffee only during natural disasters.  During our time in New Jersey, this meant I had a cup ‘o Joe every couple of months.  Then Winter came and, dang, it was cold.  Then our boss up there brought in a Keurig for the office.

The capability to make one single cup of coffee at a time cinched the deal for me.  I have always totally disliked coffeemakers and never even had one when I lived alone.  A Keurig?  One cup at a time?  What a concept!

You guessed it.  I am now a coffee drinker once again, but definitely in moderation.  Some days, like today, I will have two cups – one in the afternoon and then one around 10 PM.  Other days, it’s just the 10 PM cup and some days it’s none at all.

I really enjoy this one at 10 PM, shortly after Dave has gone to bed, my solo shift is just getting started and my thoughts are my own . . . quiet, solitary time.

We’ve started playing chess weekend evenings again.

 

Maggie chills out Sunday evening after a clip and bath that day.

 

My world at about 2:30 this morning.  It is often foggy here.

I’m now out of java and words, so I’ll toddle off to my virtual assistant job while I’m on duty.  That helps pass the time and, really, the four hours I’m up alone breeze by quite swiftly.

Thanks for stopping by!