Reverent Beans
Morning routines have the sort of predictable cyclicity that borders on religion. Something about a daily ritual of coffee, bagels and quiet solitude invokes thoughts of prayer. When I moved into my college house junior year with my three best friends, one brought her espresso maker. The MICHELANGELO 15 Bar Espresso Machine with Milk Frother. It has changed my life. Dragging myself downstairs to make breakfast every morning is now completely motivated by the knowledge that Michelangelo is awaiting me. Emptying the previously brewed beans, refilling the water, packing new beans and pressing the 2 shot button has the sort of performative method to it that is practically confessional. It has become a sort of love language of mine. A roommate is under the weather or sad about a boy? I shall brew her a coffee. A day went poorly for me and life is getting me down? Let me make myself a coffee. It astounds me that such a mundane (it feels sinful to call it that) object could have touched me so deeply.
But now as we inch towards graduation, I realize that I shall have to part with my beloved. I feel like I am in a strange state of purgatory. The simple knowledge that I will be separated from Michelangelo wretches my soul. But my roommate will be leaving, taking him with her. In fact, we’ll all be separated. Not living together for the first time in three years. The people I’ve learned and grown to love almost as much as Michelangelo. Perhaps more. But with our separation, I know my love for both Michelangelo and my roommates will grow stronger. I have heard that absence makes the heart grow founder. And I know a fresh cup when we all reunite will be that much sweeter.
I think that this is SO fun. I love how you have this really intimate relationship with a coffee machine, how it's a religious experience for you. I think that the little pieces of life that make the rest of it suck a little less are the things that will motivate you your whole life. I live to sit outside on my porch, and every day I wake up excited to, at some point in the day, wander outside and lay on our "outside bed", which is pretty much two pallets stacked with pillows and mattress toppers covered in a few blankets. It makes life a little more worth living, and I appreciate that.
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