In Which Pepper Teaches Me a Life Lesson
I was in the bathroom when I heard the crash.
I was momentarily alarmed, but quickly decided it was no big deal. "One of the pets just knocked over the baby gate," I thought. (Don't worry friends I haven't seen in a while...you haven't missed any big news, we use the "baby" gate mainly to keep our elderly dachshund Oscar from falling down the stairs.)
I walked into the kitchen and discovered I was wrong. So very wrong. The victim was the coffeemaker. Knocked off the counter (by our cat Pepper, I had no doubt) and lying in pieces on the kitchen floor amidst coffee and grounds (also splattered on the cupboards, of course).
Despair and panic gripped me.
If you're not a coffee person, I don't think I can explain these feelings to you. If you're not a coffee person, I both envy and pity you. I envy your freedom, that you're not enslaved to your need for coffee, but I also feel sorry for you that your life lacks that sublime desire for it. Perhaps you are enthralled by the pleasures of something else. Coffee is certainly not my only craving, and I didn't even drink it regularly until my 30's. But there is something about that morning cycle of craving and fulfillment that is like nothing else.
But now all my dreams lay shattered on the floor and flung on the walls. And Oscar was outside barking to get in, adding a plaintive soundtrack to my tragedy.
"What am I doing to do, what am I GOING TO DO?!!" ran through my head. Yes, there is a coffee shop in our neighborhood, but that would involve getting dressed, and one can't get dressed without having coffee first. And I needed to clean up this mess, and I couldn't face that mess without having coffee first. And I couldn't let Oscar in to walk through the coffee grounds, but he wouldn't shut up, and where was Pepper Kitty? I didn't see any signs of injury but had she suffered some harm while committing her crime of coffeecide? Then recrimination set in...this is all my fault for having the coffeemaker too close to the edge of the counter and letting the cat sit on the coffeemaker in the first place.
Fast forward a few minutes. I got myself together, cleaned up the worst of the mess, let Oscar in the house, and discovered that although part of the plastic container that holds the water is missing, the coffeemaker could still make coffee!!! Praise be to the coffee deities.
Mama Kitty (Pepper) emerged from the basement, all in one piece, and, yes, resumed sitting on the coffeemaker. (What are ya gonna do?)
So I was extremely relieved as I started cleaning up the rest of the coffee grounds, but also pissy and frustrated. I got up EARLY on a beautiful Saturday morning with dreams of grandeur and productivity. I was going to clean the house and go for a run and give the dogs a bath and make up some time on work and run some lines and pretty much get my whole life in order in one day. But here I was, vacuuming up coffee grounds. The total debacle cost me at least thirty minutes. Plans ruined.
Hmmm. Maybe Mama Kitty and the coffee deities were trying to teach me a lesson. I tend to plan my life with no room for error. I schedule my days full of commitments and my plans can only possibly succeed if nothing ever goes wrong. So of course, I'm often late and frazzled and totally freak out when even the smallest plan gets derailed.
I hate wasting time.
Still, I proceed like I have total control over everything from traffic to cats. Perhaps I need a little wake-up call to remind me that life is big and vast and beyond my petty concerns. I should appreciate the now. As John Lennon said, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
So well played, Mama Kitty. Here I am, blogging about you and coffee and the deeper mysteries of life, and not doing anything productive.
And planning that we may need to buy a new coffeemaker soon.
I was momentarily alarmed, but quickly decided it was no big deal. "One of the pets just knocked over the baby gate," I thought. (Don't worry friends I haven't seen in a while...you haven't missed any big news, we use the "baby" gate mainly to keep our elderly dachshund Oscar from falling down the stairs.)
I walked into the kitchen and discovered I was wrong. So very wrong. The victim was the coffeemaker. Knocked off the counter (by our cat Pepper, I had no doubt) and lying in pieces on the kitchen floor amidst coffee and grounds (also splattered on the cupboards, of course).
Despair and panic gripped me.
If you're not a coffee person, I don't think I can explain these feelings to you. If you're not a coffee person, I both envy and pity you. I envy your freedom, that you're not enslaved to your need for coffee, but I also feel sorry for you that your life lacks that sublime desire for it. Perhaps you are enthralled by the pleasures of something else. Coffee is certainly not my only craving, and I didn't even drink it regularly until my 30's. But there is something about that morning cycle of craving and fulfillment that is like nothing else.
But now all my dreams lay shattered on the floor and flung on the walls. And Oscar was outside barking to get in, adding a plaintive soundtrack to my tragedy.
"What am I doing to do, what am I GOING TO DO?!!" ran through my head. Yes, there is a coffee shop in our neighborhood, but that would involve getting dressed, and one can't get dressed without having coffee first. And I needed to clean up this mess, and I couldn't face that mess without having coffee first. And I couldn't let Oscar in to walk through the coffee grounds, but he wouldn't shut up, and where was Pepper Kitty? I didn't see any signs of injury but had she suffered some harm while committing her crime of coffeecide? Then recrimination set in...this is all my fault for having the coffeemaker too close to the edge of the counter and letting the cat sit on the coffeemaker in the first place.
Fast forward a few minutes. I got myself together, cleaned up the worst of the mess, let Oscar in the house, and discovered that although part of the plastic container that holds the water is missing, the coffeemaker could still make coffee!!! Praise be to the coffee deities.
Mama Kitty (Pepper) emerged from the basement, all in one piece, and, yes, resumed sitting on the coffeemaker. (What are ya gonna do?)
 |
| Her rightful place |
Hmmm. Maybe Mama Kitty and the coffee deities were trying to teach me a lesson. I tend to plan my life with no room for error. I schedule my days full of commitments and my plans can only possibly succeed if nothing ever goes wrong. So of course, I'm often late and frazzled and totally freak out when even the smallest plan gets derailed.
I hate wasting time.
Still, I proceed like I have total control over everything from traffic to cats. Perhaps I need a little wake-up call to remind me that life is big and vast and beyond my petty concerns. I should appreciate the now. As John Lennon said, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
So well played, Mama Kitty. Here I am, blogging about you and coffee and the deeper mysteries of life, and not doing anything productive.
And planning that we may need to buy a new coffeemaker soon.
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