Ladies—are you coffee lovers?  Do you dream of a piping hot cup of coffee, first thing in the morning, dark and rich, before you even crawl out of bed?  I do.  Yes, I do love coffee, and will, forever and ever, for better or worse,  til death do us part.

The sad thing though, is that my husband doesn’t.  I’ve known him now, over half my life, and always I’ve wished, begged, pleaded—‘Please, just try it! You might like it!  Share it with me, please!’  Nope.  Never.  Not ever.  Not even a teeny tiny sip.  Yeah, he’d buy me the finest beans, and on vacation, he’d wake up early, in search of great coffee for me, and bring it back, hand delivered,  before I even woke up.  But never for himself.  Which was sweet, but still, and I know it sounds weird and selfish, it made me feel, well, coffee lonely, if there is such a thing, and I believe there is.  It wasn’t the same, me and my coffee, and him, outside on the porch or deck, or downstairs in our own house, before our daughters awoke, talking, planning, dreaming, the two of us, over well, one cup of coffee, however delicious, instead of two.

Call me a spoiled brat.  I don’t care.  I never stopped insisting.  I wanted him to be my coffee buddy!  He even had a state of the art miele coffee system built into a wall of our kitchen, so I could have my own barista type set up, I could be a coffee rockstar, grinding and brewing the very best coffee I’ve had anywhere, now in my own home, but still, sigh, all alone.  I continued to beg and plead.  ‘Taste it!  Try it!’  Never.  No matter how hard I tried.  Finally, he at least agreed to learn to make it, and serve it, but still, never wanting to actually try it, like it, come to love it, so we could enjoy and love it together. 

My husband has long been a competitive dude.  It doesn’t matter the game, or if it’s sport, he’s out to win, out for victory.  He’s like this in business, throwing a ball, even playing yahtzee, and definitely arm wrestling.  So when one of my brothers, another long time coffee hold out, and one of his partners in business, declared that ‘Hey man, coffee’s awesome - you ought to give it a try.  We could install a coffee system in the office.  It’d be great’ - my husband slowly and surely began to change his position.  If his partner, my younger brother,  could dig coffee, then maybe he could also?  These two have competed for years, over swimming, throwing, endurance, strength, business, etc….. if coffee was now part of the game, well then, it looked like my husband might be playing.

Well hooray is what I said.  Finally!  So for a week or so I asked him, each morning, ‘Would you like a cup of coffee?’  His answer, day after day, ‘Maybe tomorrow.’  Yesterday he said the same, ‘Maybe tomorrow.’  I said, ‘It is tomorrow!,’ and made him his very first cup of coffee at the tender age of 47.  He drank it slowly, tentatively, while reading the morning paper.  My dream come true!  The entire cup consumed.  This morning, I didn’t even ask.  I made it, he drank it, and I think today he liked it more than yesterday, which is how things go in the world of ‘acquired tastes.’ 

Change is good.  Life, like coffee, is fluid and rich.  After twenty plus years, I think I may actually, at long last, have my coffee buddy.  Regardless of the route it took to get him, I believe he’s finally arrived.  If he turns into a weirdo coffee snob though, it’s over.  No more coffee for him.  Ever.