Remembering Caffeina-Starbuck, 1997-2007

I remember going to Walmart my senior year of high school, picking you out from the rows of coffee-makers, cheap and expensive- deciding that the $12 one-switch model was good enough for me.

I remember stationing you on top of my mini refrigerator in Fisher, a bastion of comfort from home in a new and unfamiliar and, at times, unfriendly world. That year you probably made more coffee than any coffeemaker should, as I stayed up way too late night after night, talking to friends, talking to Nate, doing Real Analysis and Algebra homework. You were right beside me when I got the news that Rich Mullins died, when I cried from homesickness, when I came home late after getting my first kiss.

I remember storing you during the summers, packing and unpacking you carefully; I remember that fateful night when I took your decanter into the lobby of MacEvans, to share coffee with friends, and the door suddenly opened, cracking it. A replacement decanter, barely fitting, was purchased at the True Value Hardware in downtown Wheaton.

I remember moving with you into the little apartment in Wheaton, hoping you would finish brewing each morning before the train came. You moved with us in the little moving truck down to Atlanta, then in the bigger truck up to Pennsylvania.

You have seen me through every victory and crisis, every late night homework session and caffeine-reduction program, through tutoring, graduate school, pregnancy and childbirth. Time after time you didn't break when I turned on the switch after forgetting to add water, or left you turned on with your pot empty.

And now, your reservoir has cracked, so that water leaks out the bottom, rendering you unusable, so I've had to purchase a new sleek black-and-fake-chrome Black-and-Decker model for my brewing needs. But our ten years of life together- ten very significant years of my life- will never be forgotten.

:-) Love, Neb