“Making” Coffee

I am passionate about my coffee.  The oily dark beans, the oily-er the better, are an important part of my daily start.  It’s much more than just a romantic relationship.  So when James Arthur said he wanted to help daddy “grind some coffee” (yes that’s how he said it), I thought, how nice, I can share a little passion for perfection with my son.

Well about half way through what was supposed to be the process it became clear that at least one of us cared nothing for the sacred and well defined art of proper coffee preparation.  One of us was much more interested in scooping beans back and forth between bag and grinder; one of us was excited by the clicking of hard shells as they danced and bounced from counter to floor and everywhere in between.  Daddy’s first impression was “what a mess” and so when Jake said “Yuk at da mess” Daddy’s heart sunk…but only for a minute and then it all changed as I realized:  Boy am I an effective teacher and BOY is he an effective learner.

At that point we both had beans stuck to the bottoms of our feet, they were spread chaotically in every possible crack and crevice, under every appliance…we’ll be finding coffee beans like, Easter eggs, for months and daddy realized, again, how he limits himself and his view of the world…my goodness!

I think now about this limiting habit and I feel emotional about it, not sad, just emotional, like…well…like I have emotions that get covered up by my limiting beliefs, my many limiting beliefs, like there’s only one way to make coffee, like there’s only one use for coffee beans, like there’s such a thing as “a mess”, like making coffee is more important than being present with my son or myself.  So, thank you son!  All the answers are there, everything is right in front of us, whether we have kids or not but especially with kids, especially kids.  Maybe those of us that have manifested children have more to learn, maybe we need more obvious lessons…or maybe it’s just me.  Either way I’m so grateful that I am open to the lessons…it takes a while sometimes, other times it happens more immediately and I’m sure there are plenty of lessons I miss but not this morning, nope, not this morning.

This morning I “made” coffee with my son and it was the best coffee I’ve ever had.