Caffeine sweet drug of choice

Mon., Aug. 9, 2004

Cheryl-anne Millsap The Spokesman-Review

I probably drink more caffeine than I should. But, honestly, I’d like to know how you’re supposed to make it through fifteen hours of daylight without a little help? Summer in this part of the country means long days. And it takes a lot of energy to make it through.

My cat wakes me up each morning an hour before the sun comes up. And once I’m awake, I can’t get back to sleep. So I turn to the coffeepot for that first cup of the day.

And I can’t pass up the opportunity to spend a couple of quiet hours alone, before the children get up, so I have another cup (or two) of coffee before everybody is stirring.

By mid-morning I’m ready to move on to my other drug of choice – Diet Coke – carrying a can around the house with me as I work. Unfortunately, that means a good part of my day is spent walking around looking for that can of soda, trying to remember where I was when I had it last. When I leave the house I usually take it with me, using the car’s air conditioner to chill the can when it gets too warm.

By late afternoon, the worst part of the day for me, my energy is flagging and I need a jolt of something, so I drink another Diet Coke or better yet, invent an errand so I can drive through my favorite espresso stand for one of their low-fat granitas. The rest depends on our plans for the evening. If we eat out, and I get dessert, naturally I need a cup of coffee. If I don’t get dinner out and I still have work to do, I may make a pot of tea, or if it looks like it’s going to be an all-nighter I’ll open another Diet Coke.

By 9 p.m. I’m either exhausted or wired. Or both. But then I get my second wind, (If you’re a “night person” you know exactly what I’m talking about) and I’m off and running again, like the Energizer bunny with a couple of new batteries.

Around midnight I call it a day. And then early the next morning, when that (feel free to insert the expletive of your choice) cat comes in my room and starts meowing, it starts all over again.

It’s not like I depend on the caffeine to function or anything. I’m not hooked. I can quit anytime. I just need it to help me get up and going in the morning, stay up and going in the afternoon, and then get up and going again in the evening. That’s all.

Of course, it’s practically mid-August and the summer is waning. Pretty soon the days will get shorter and colder and I may find myself drinking a little too much caffeine then, too. But really, I’d like to know how you’re supposed to make it through fifteen or sixteen dark and dreary hours without a little help?

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