Nothing smells better in the morning than a fresh cup of coffee in the kitchen. The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage has it configured so that at a certain time in the morning, the coffee begins to strain and we wake up with that wonderful aroma.

I love my coffee in the morning and nothing gets me better on the road.

I had a little problem last week. I had to go get my annual blood test. If you have ever had blood drawn, you know that you are not supposed to eat or drink anything after midnight so they can take the correct blood sample. Even Count Dracula wasn’t that demanding!

I didn’t think about it until I woke up that morning, the coffee was brewing, the aroma filled the house, and I was ready for my first cup of coffee of the day. Then my wife looked at me and said, “Don’t you have a blood test this morning?”

My heart sank to the soles of my feet. How can I start the day without my morning cup of Joe?

When I went to the doctor’s office that morning, I said to the nurse, “You are the bravest person I know.”

She looked at me curiously and I explained. “Not drinking my morning coffee makes me grumpy.” And I meant it.

She laughed and said: “That may be true, but I have the needle that I am going to stick in your arm.” With that, he laughed, but I didn’t return his joy.

Leaving the doctor’s office, I went straight to McDonald’s for a cup of coffee. How I got there I’ll never know After several sips of coffee, he seemed to calm me down and turn me into a pretty decent person. Now, I think so.

I’m not quite sure where I learned to love coffee so much. Growing up, my parents drank coffee, but it was that terrible instant coffee. How anyone can drink that is beyond me. For a long time like that I thought I tasted coffee and I didn’t want to have anything to do with it.

I clearly remember the first time I had a real cup of coffee.

I was helping my grandfather to work the lawn and in the middle of the morning he looked at me and said: “Son, how old are you?”

I thought it was silly for my grandfather to ask me, but I replied with a cheerful “I’m 14 years old, Grandpa.”

“That’s fine,” he said smiling, “you’re old enough to have a real coffee, let’s go inside.”

That’s when I was introduced to the real cafe. To this day, I’m not quite sure how he did it, but I know he put a lot of energy into his coffee. It was coffee served on an antique wood stove in the kitchen.

So I owe my love of coffee to my grandfather who knew how to make real coffee and not that artificial instant coffee my parents made.

Since then I have enjoyed coffee and perhaps, as my wife says, I have been enjoying it too much.

Not long ago, in the middle of the morning, he looked at me while I had a cup of coffee and asked me a strange question. “How much coffee have you had today?”

For the life of me, I’m not sure why you asked that question, because no one can drink too much coffee.

Not sure how to respond, I said very carefully, “This is the only cup of coffee I remember drinking today.”

I find it wonderful to grow old when you can blame everything on old age and forgetting things.

“I’m not so sure,” she said hesitantly, “this is my third cup of coffee today.”

After all, who counts how much coffee they drink. One cup is as good as another cup. I am not the type of person to discriminate over anything, especially coffee. Of course, if it is instant coffee, I will discriminate.

“I think,” he said very seriously, “that you are a coffee addict.”

That surprised me quite a bit because I had never heard that word before. I’m something of a word maker and I enjoy words and phrases, but this word, Coffeeholic, I have never heard before. At first, I thought maybe he was making it up. After a little research, there is such a word.

He wasn’t done with his little talk about coffee, “I think you’re drinking too much coffee and you should consider cutting back a bit. Caffeine is not good for you.”

I’m not sure where all that came from, but I’ll “think” about what you just said. I don’t plan on doing anything about it, because I think she wouldn’t want to be around someone like me who hasn’t had her coffee that day.

I have so many other things to think about, as the apostle Paul said: “Finally, brothers, all that is true, all that is honest, all that is just, all that is pure, all that is kind, all that is of good name; if there is any virtue, and if there is any praise, think of these things “(Philippians 4: 8).

This is what I’m going to be thinking about, but not cutting down on my coffee.