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Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Drinking Coffee At Home



Did you ever notice how nice it is to get up early in the morning, say 4:00 AM - when the traffic has not yet risen to feed - and have a quiet cup of coffee? I did so today. I rose a little before four: the clock was set for four, but I became restless between three and four, so I got up about ten minutes before four...

Which is a great time, understand. It is not too early at all. At 4 AM it is quiet and there are none of those Matrix gnarly types in sunglasses haunting the pavements and the play grounds around the Oracle's Apartment. Did you ever feel like the Oracle? I mean, you feel like your IQ is somewhere North of 100 yet you feel like a precious dope, and you sip on your tea and look out the window and the Albino Nelson Twins are hanging around, waiting to karate chop you like bok choy. I feel that way all the time in "normal" time... say, 9 AM to 6 PM: bok choy and chop suey. Not just "chop suey", but CHOP SUEY from the Edward Hopper painting during the Great Depression, and it's always Chicago, it's always cold, and everyone always is bundled up. Sensuality always wears a sweater, and your nudity feels as unpleasant as cheap velvet chairs.

But in the quiet of morning it is restful. Not at all like a day... hmmm.... like just last Thursday you came home from the gym to find a note on your front door saying the EMS had taken your wife to the hospital.
Eye opening experience!
And you had to run up and shower and put on clean clothes, remembering sometime in the past when you went to see her in the hospital and you were wearing one of her shirts! It's not enough to be a rapid responder; one must be properly attired.
And the relief of finding it was an attack of vertigo and not a stroke or tumor or anything else...
Much more relaxing.
Or maybe Saturday having your mother call and say father was not feeling well. Then Sunday she takes him to the hospital, and you go the 70 miles after your afternoon concert - you do go to the concert because just two days ago you forced yourself to realize that medical professionals were taking care of things, and you were not a doctor yourself.
So you stay two days, and you and your mother are exhausted. Your father's difficult and disoriented.

But then next morning things seem better.You know because you called the hospital this morning, and he's had a little breakfast, not having eaten for four days; doesn't seem as disoriented anymore...

I would bet you that you would really enjoy that quiet cup of coffee, and that you would fall in love with four in the morning!

8 comments:

Ruth said...

I would. If I were not already in love with 4 in the morning. Which I am.

But you didn't explain about your poor wife!

AD said...

You capture here something that becomes the common experience of people of a certain age, as Europeans put it, and also of a certain type. Wonderful. Delightfully and therefore also in a way melancholically real!

Montag said...

Ruth, the vertigo could be caused by allergies, calcium deposits, etc. Apparently the list is endless. Furthermore, a number of people in scrubs identified themselves as having suffered a bout of vertigo sometime in their lives, which sounded suspicious...

It is much better, although not entirely disappeared. Thank you.

Montag said...

Arsen,

Alas, I no longer have that "je ne sais quoi"...
It is "mon age", and I know it and so do we all.

You have a very sprightly outlook on it, and I shall attempt to more "real" and less melancholic.

Ruth said...

I'm glad your wife is better. I'd hoped so, and assumed as much, since you didn't say much before.

(Don't lose your melancholy, not completely. That is, only if it's the good kind.)

Montag said...

Thanks, Ruth. There are some "spin" moments, but it is much better.
Now we get into the period where "we" re-write the hospital's instructions just a wee bit...

Ben said...

It's good alls well that ends well with you and your wife, and that your father is getting better, Montag :)

Has 4 AM and a cup of coffee become your favourite time of the day? The most peaceful?

Ben

Montag said...

Thank you. I hope everything is OK. And, yes, 4:00 is a wonderful time when I can focus uninterrupted. And I do focus. I can not and never could drive and talk on a cell phone... totally impossible for me...

When I pay attention to things, I devour them.