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Wednesday, April 06, 2005

Drinking Too Much

Normally I'm up by 5:30 in the morning and while I pack my husband's lunch and chat with him, I drink one of these.

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It's what my husband calls my "flower pot" of coffee. It holds a full 16 oz of coffee. I love that mug. It "feels right" in my hand. The handle is just right, the weight is perfect, and it has a sturdy-not-going-to-knock-it-over feel to it.

I used to justify the size of my mug by saying that he was having two cups from his "regular" size mug while I only had one of my "flower pots". Except over the past year I have gradually been going back for a little more, and yet some more, until now I am wanting to have TWO of my monster mugs full of coffee before I face my day. If he drinks a little more than I expected, (meaning I get less than I expected), I feel annoyed. This is not good.

It is my philosophy that it is dangerous to feel you NEED something. (Other than your basic food/shelter). To "need" something is to wander onto the slippery slope of addiction. Addiction controls its victim. Addiction can warp judgment and sometimes cause a compromise of values that are held dear.

Think of the drug addict that steals to support his addiction; The mother whose infant sits unattended while she lies in a drunken stupor; The parents who can't afford to clothe their children decently but somehow find the money for a two-pack-a-day habit; The smoker with lung disease so severe that he carries oxygen with him, but after picking up his inhaler prescription, stops on the way out of the store to lean on the counter and wheeze out his request for yet another carton of cigarettes.

In those situations, who is in control, who is making the decisions, the person or their addiction?

I slept in this morning which meant that my body didn't get its usual ingestion of early morning caffeine. I awoke to muscle cramps, lethargy and a bad mood. An addiction to coffee won't make me neglect my children or break into your home to find the money for my next "fix", but taken to excess it can damage my health. Good health is a wonderful thing to have. It's worth protecting.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Coming from your mother (who hates the taste of coffee) yugh. How did I manage to bring up a girl that drinks so much coffee?

Maggie Ann said...

Well said. Addictions are harmful. I feel sorry for children whose lives are impacted by these situations. They deserve better.