Coffee Mania

I can't drink regular coffee.  I become hyper.  Most people don't believe me when I tell them coffee winds me up.  I went to breakfast once with my friend Diane and the restaurant didn't have decaf.  I thought I'd try a regular mocha.

First, you must understand they my usual rate of talking is about twice as fast as a typical person.  I used to work with this one guy Darwin.  "How much coffee have you had today?" he asked me one particularly manic morning.

"Whatdoyoumean?IhadsomeorangejuiceforbreakfastIdon'tdrinkcoffeeIliketea...." was my response.

"Ohhhhh..." he said.

I've only met one or two people who talk faster than I do, and it was frightening.  This one woman had just move to St. Louis and was telling me about the seven health clubs she visited before making her decision.  Wow, I thought.  If I talk half as fast as this woman, I must be scary.

Back to breakfast with Diane.  "I am sure you'll be fine," she said, rolling her eyes.  So I drank the regular mocha.  "I will never let you drink regular coffee again," she said a half hour later.

I had a regular cup of coffee when I had the flu once.  I got a ton of stuff done for someone who was sick.  Best illness I've ever had! I thought as I was dancing to cranked up iTunes while emptying the dishwasher.  The caffeine wore off, and I crashed.

As when I had the flu, there have been a few moments of desperation.  Yesterday was one of them.  The Boy has to leave the house shortly after 7:00 a.m., so that means I get up at 6:30 to help get him moving.  As I cannot drink coffee because of the aforementioned reasons, I need eight to nine hours of sleep a night to be functional.  When I go to bed around 11:00, that doesn't happen.  Vitamins help, but not enough. Yesterday, I was sluggish.  I thought I could take a nap or have a cup of regular.  I decided against the nap.  I some how think it isn't fair that my son has to slog through the day while I was conked out.

I had half of a twelve ounce mocha and was off to the races for the rest of the day.  Coffee doesn't give me energy--it makes me manic.  Those unfinished house projects?  Done.  Get rid of the holiday greenery and turn it to compost.  Whack back the overgrown ivy, clean the gutters, and sweep the twenty two steps to our house that collect pounds of conifer debris.  I called my poor friend Mary from Philly had to listen to me brainstorm the same six ideas over and over again.

"Uh, Lauren, I gotta go..."  she said, sensing that I would not run out of steam any time soon.  Friends don't let friend drunk dial.  I thought about calling her back with new ideas, but though the better of it.

So, should I enjoy the coffee mania?  Use it as the drug that it is to get stuff done?  Or, should it be considered a dangerous substance that should be used sparingly?  My sense is if I plan to be alone and avoid human contact, but plan to paint three rooms of my house, I am fine to drink away.  If I plan to be in polite society, I need to skip the hard stuff.