Missouri in Thirty.

so, i have given myself an assignment. i suppose every wannabe writer needs an assignment, or a deadline.

i have a little over a month left in Missouri. while an insane amount of excitement wells within me when i think about getting to hold and see my nephew everyday, and when i think of summer BBQ's with my family that are awaiting me this summer and further- there is a lot of heartbreak that comes along with the thought of leaving this midwest land.

Missouri has always been constant for me- the place i always could come back to. the place that was always waiting for me, and the exact place where i needed to be.

realizing that, however, has not always been easy. the past three & a half years have been a joy, and an intense struggle. i've been boundlessly happy, and undoubtedly crushed.

so much of my life has taken place here. i owe so much to these trees, these people, these shops, these afternoons, these nights, these pets, these songs, these thoughts- every square inch of these exclusive moments have been exactly what i needed.

so, as i said before, i've given myself an assignment. i'm famous for procrastination, and ideas bigger than my head can hold.

but! for the next thirty days, i will devote thirty blogs to thirty "things" that have made Missouri, well, Missouri to me.

i've spent a week making a list of these things, and they will be anything from drinks, to people, to places, to a singular night, songs, a solitary memory, items, and what have you.

i already miss this place. i know that Oregon is my home, but for a short while- Missouri took me in, and it will always consume a large portion of my heart. i simply must pay homage to the place that changed everything.

so i've decided, i might as well begin with the item that will probably be the driving force behind this whole thing, and the reason i will be able to accomplish this among everything else:

Day #1: Coffee.

my first experience with Coffee was when i was in 1st grade, and my friend's mom offered me a cup. "ewww no way," i responded. the thick, black sludge seemed like poison to my small self, who indulged in Capri Suns only.

in the words of my brother, "Who can seriously survive college without coffee?"

i had, maybe, one or two cups of coffee while going to Missouri State in Springfield. it wasn't until i moved to Columbia and Keely's mom bought us a coffee maker that i really made use of this medievally powerful item. of course it started with sugary Caramel latte's, but cup after cup, the simple combo of the black liquid with a glimmer of creamer soon became my first and foremost priority in the early A.M.

i can first thank my friend Laura McComas for first inviting me to meet her at a coffee shop downtown that soon became a type of ritual. i can also thank my good friend, Jenni Rea, for always having a full pot made each and every time i visited her house on Pimlico street. thanks also goes out to best friend and roommate, Keely Swift, who informed me about fair-trade coffee that i now make a priority to buy to make at home.

but most of all, i owe the utmost appreciation to the one, the only, Coffee.

so here's to you, Coffee. here's to the pick-ups and the let me downs. here's to the many 10AM's that we saw together, and the 3AM's that we fought past. the awkward conversations that we sipped through together, and the lectures that we gulped our way through. here's to you always keeping my winter hands warm, and here's to you turning my bad mood into a overly optimistic one. the sound of the first drops hitting the pot, the smell once it crept back to my room to let me know you were ready, and the excitement within my nerves as i pour you into a mug. the two or three cups of you that i drank through every workday, the sheer disappointment on class days when i forgot about you and left you waiting patiently for me in my car's cup holder. the hours upon hours we spent cramming for that Biology final together. you're near impossible to sneak into a movie theatre, but so worth the chance of being caught. here's to your invigorating smell that surrounds the majority of the downtown Columbia area. your flavor, your steam, your beans and your grounds. here's to your way of keeping me from fearing the morning when my paper was due. the procrastination. the indulgence. the silly headaches that come from dependence. you always were a favorite to sit and watch the rain with. the way that you were always the perfect amount of comfort on an ugly day, and how often you listened to me complain about the many static things in life.

here's to you, dear liquid- my counselor, my encourager, my dear friend in times of trouble.
my lovely little coffee.

:)