Leave My Joe Alone

My dad and I had a good laugh this morning.

It was a laugh about nothing important, but those are often the best kind of laughs. Come to think of it, this was one of those times that felt like a Seinfeld moment (we're both big Seinfeld fans and have had many interesting moments about nothing throughout the years).

This morning's nothing was about a lukewarm cup of coffee.

He won't drink the coffee I make because he thinks it's too weak. I won't drink the coffee he makes because I think it's too strong.

Whenever we stay at the other's house, it's a race to the coffee pot.

He stayed with us last night, and I was up first this morning.

If you're a coffee drinker, you know that having your cup of coffee the way you like it is one of the first pleasures of the day.

Maybe it's the brand you most desire. Or maybe the aroma does it for you. Maybe it's the sheer quantity of caffeine you are able to consume in mere minutes.

For me, it's the first sip. I like to take it while it's still scalding hot. If I'm at home, I want it in a certain cup with sugar sprinkled before the coffee is poured.

This morning, I knew I needed to drink my coffee before he came downstairs. I also knew that if I didn't, I should tell him to leave it alone until I could get to it.

That was before I began to fix breakfast, change a diaper and doctor a sore arm.

By the time he got downstairs, I had forgotten about it. Fifteen minutes later I remembered.

The perceptive reader might have already figured out what happened.

Yes, he poured it into some random cup with no sugar and it was nowhere near scalding.

"You couldn't wait a few more minutes?" I hollered.

He shook his head and began to chuckle.

To top it off, he decided a few minutes later that he didn't want to make his own coffee afterall. He got in the car and drove to a nearby Starbucks.

"I hope you enjoy your coffee. You ruined mine," I said with a big grin upon his return.

We both began to laugh. Then we (well, maybe I) spent the next few minutes talking about why nobody should mess with another person's first cup of coffee.