Notes from public school - day 72

I’m a morning coffee, afternoon Diet Coke kind of guy.

Two of my favorite machines in the world are the Black and Decker coffee maker with timer at my house and the Coke machine in the mail room at my school.

In the early morning, at 6:30 a.m., I love to hear the pop, gurgle sound of the coffee maker automatically dripping the coffee into the pot.

I love to smell the earthy, nutty smell of the coffee as it makes it’s way up the stairs and into my room.

It might be from coffee beans from El Salvador, or from coffee beans from Ethiopia, or from coffee beans from Jamaica.

It means the world to me.

This might sound simple, but that sound and that smell help me put one foot out of the covers and onto the floor, then the other foot out of the covers and onto the floor, and get up and get going into another day of teaching and writing in good, ol west Greenville, South Carolina.

In the late afternoon, at 5:00 p.m., I love to hear the zzzzz, click, thud sound of the Coke machine taking my dollar bills and dispensing the chilled Diet Coke into my worn hands.

Oh how happy I am to twist off the cap and raise the bottle of crisp, bubbly Coke that gives me an albeit weary smile.

Simple indeed, but they are things to be thankful for before and after public school days.