The Death Of Coffee As I Know It

My coffeemaker died today, and I am distraught.
 
Okay, despite the fact that I have a bit of a caffeine-withdrawal headache, that's a little extreme, don't you think? It's not as though I even drink that much coffee, and when I drink coffee, it is full of so much milk that the volume of coffee consumed amounts to about eight ounces a day. And it's a coffeemaker. A COFFEEMAKER. But that coffeemaker is part of my daily routine, and now that it is broken, so too is my routine.
 
And that is why I am over-dramatizing the death of a kitchen appliance. It is not the appliance itself that I am mourning. Rather, I am mourning (again, extreme, but go with me here) the loss of the routine that the appliance was a part of.
 
Each day, we are faced with new challenges, and by and large, we handle them. No two days are the same, we think, and yet, in reality, some parts of our days ARE the same. The alarm that wakes us up, the shampoo we use in the shower, the coffeemaker we turn on each morning. It is these routine things that form the base from which we go out and face all of those challenges. And when a piece of our routine is gone, our base changes, and that can be unsettling.
 
When I was first out of work when my time at ABC ended, one of the trickiest things was establishing a routine to my days. I was so used to a certain daily schedule, certain buses and trains, certain coverage for my kids, that the hours at home seemed endless some days, largely because I hadn't yet found a routine. Not only was my big picture life changed, each minute of each day was changed. So, rather than facing challenges from a base of routine, I was faced with the challenge of creating new routines. It was scary and daunting, but it happened, little by little, and ended up preparing me for the ever-changing routines of a freelance life. Many things will continue to change, but if we are able to find some things that stay the same, we can be stronger when facing the things that change.
 
I will survive the loss of my coffeemaker, and before I know it, I will have purchased a new one. The routine has been shaken, but just for a few days. For now, you will find me pouring boiling water over a cup (either improvising coffee or going with tea!). In search of my new routine.