What a Mom's Coffee Break Looks Like

Online image. My coffee break isn't this pretty.

These past few days, it's been all I can do to stay awake and sew like my hair is on fire--which, thankfully, it is not in real life.

Coffee has been an afterthought late in the day. Yes, it's an important part of each day, but there are some days I stumble out of bed, or wherever I fell asleep, and dig into the work for the day without ever looking up to take a break. Coffee is secondary when I'm in work mode.

Kal and Kara have some appointments this week. I always look at those times as coffee breaks for myself even though they could be classified as Mom Work, taking the kids to their medical and dental appointments.

Today's coffee break started in the middle of my daughter's birthday party. I set about to make it, got distracted, set about again to make it, dealt with another issue, finally set water on the stove to boil, happened to catch it when it did boil, put grounds and boiling water in the coffee press, set it aside to brew for a bit, forgot about it, pressed the plunger, got distracted, directed my sister to take some home with her for her long drive, more distractions of endless varieties, took a bike ride with my niece around our neighborhood, chatted with the neighbor girl who looked like she wanted to take part in the party festivities, invited her over to play with the other kids, finished the ride, bid farewell to the party guests and the accompanying moms, took care of random dishes and trash, chatted with Kris outside for a bit, came back inside, remembered the coffee, and finally poured a cup to drink the barely warm enough coffee.

This scenario shouldn't surprise any mom out there. Our coffee breaks just look like this, or some version of it.

Some people dream of fancy vacations and fabulous destinations. I just dream of drinking a cup of hot coffee--and not just hot, but freshly made instead of warmed over from the morning or the night before, or from 5 previous times being warmed over in the microwave.

In the meantime of dreaming about a cup of fresh, hot coffee, I enjoy the moments with my children and the family life that comes with it. Coffee breaks will just look funny for awhile.

I wouldn't trade that for all the fresh, hot coffee in the world.

But I do still like the illusion of rest and relaxation that accompanies the thought of a cup of coffee.