As long as I’m sitting on the couch doing nothing, nobody is looking for me. However, the moment I reach for my computer, everybody wants something. My husband and my 10 year old daughter regularly like to talk to me at the same time as if they don’t hear each other talking. I might go hide out in the bedroom, but my husband will find his way there, turn on the television, and then proceed to watch YouTube on his phone at a volume that will allow him to hear over the TV. My daughter will stand on the other side of the door while I am doing whatever in the bathroom and talk to me because it can’t wait until I come out. My husband will open the bathroom door while I’m showering letting all the comfortable air out and the cold air in because he needed to ask me something right then. My grandbaby uses the belt of my bathrobe like a tether to hold onto me while I move around the house.
Since my waking hours tend to be the same as everyone else’s waking hours, I’ve been contemplating caffeine and writing during off hours. Unfortunately, my control issues stand in the way of my having a solid relationship with caffeine. You know that Lipton lemon iced tea mix? The powdered stuff? It is SO GOOD! And SO ADDICTIVE! At one stretch last summer, I was having about 24 ounces a day that I mixed in an insulated water bottle. On a couple of days, I had two bottles. Then one day, I didn’t have any. That next morning, I swear to you, somebody had turned up gravity! I had to roll myself out of bed because I couldn’t just sit up. I spent that entire day dragging my butt around on the floor and wondering why I was feeling so crappy. Then, it dawned on me: I hadn’t had any caffeine. I mixed up just a little bit to test it out and felt 1000% better.
That kinda spoiled it for me. I don’t have an addictive nature, and I don’t like the idea of being out of control which is also why I don’t drink. I wouldn’t even take the Percocet after having a c-section.
So, until I can find the balance between a little caffeine and early morning writing, or reconcile caffeine with being in control, I will just have to keep trying to squeeze it in where I can.