I’m addicted to caffeine. But I love coffee. And with all the great coffee available to me at the snap of a finger, I see no reason to give up this particular jones.

I discovered my caffeine addiction about 9 years ago. I had been happily drinking my morning coffee day in and day out for who knows how long. One day, though, I developed a stomach-churning illness that kept me in bed for 3 days. After Day 1 of lying on my ass in bed, I developed the mother of all headaches. Seriously, I though I was having a stroke. I tossed and turned, turned and tossed, bitched out my husband, and scared the shit out of my kids. Even the cats didn’t want to be around me.

At some point, though, the inner me broke through. Something (someone?) in my mind told me to get a cup of coffee. I second-guessed the little voice in my head, since I’d been throwing up everything I even THOUGHT about eating for 24 hours. The little voice got bigger, though. Coffee was on my mind!

I asked (perhaps not in my sweetest voice) my husband if he would fix me a cup of coffee. Instantly forgiving me for the unwarranted attacks I launched against him, my sweet hubby brought me some coffee. (Thanks hubby!) And I shit you not, this is the truth: I hadn’t had five sips of that coffee before my raging headache all but disappeared.

I was orgasmic. My husband cracked a beer. The kids came back downstairs. The cats crawled out from under the bed.

The curative powers of that one cup of coffee convinced me that all addictions are NOT equal.

My advice to you is this: unless you have a compelling health reason to eliminate coffee from your life, don’t even think about it. What’s better than that first sip of coffee hitting your palate in the morning? Okay, maybe a couple of things, but a good cup of coffee is an essential part of any successful morning routine.

Here’s my recipe for an awesome morning cuppa:

1 cup, warmed for 25 seconds in the microwave (because who wants to put hot coffee in a cold cup???)

Dark, black coffee, from a reputable coffee shop, like, La Prima Tazza, here in Lawrence. Of course, most of you don’t live here in Lawrence, so there’s always Starbucks. And brewed by the hubby, who’s up and alert at an inhuman hour, before you arise.

Pour dark, black coffee into warm mug. Carry mug around with you, sipping constantly, while you get everybody up and out the door.