Good To The Last Drop

I didn't start drinking coffee until my son was born.  After the first year, the year I would wake up early and hustle down to the coffee shop to get my wife and I our espresso drinks, we noticed the massive drain in our accounts.  Up till then, it was just wifey draining the funds.  Now, I was adding a cup for me, and adding in a chocolate croissant.  And maybe a muffin.  We quickly realized that one, we needed to get me away from the baked goods and two, we needed to buy an espresso machine. Two weeks ago I returned from my first "solo" vacation in 13 years.  Basically, since I've been married I've toured, relaxed and cavorted in the company of wife, wife & child or wife & child & extended family.  Not so bad, really.  My wife is a great traveler, and the family we visit live right on the beach ten minutes north and south to some of my favorite breaks in California.  But a few weeks ago I find myself in a big palapa palace on a point break with seven other guys, all nominally in the same boat as me.  That is, mid thirties, girlfriends wives and children, self-inflicted importance... that sort of thing.  Made me think of getting older.  This wasn't the first time I've noticed I'm getting older.  My ankles are now famously worn thin; anyone from my soccer team can probably regale you with stories about my maddeningly tender ankles.  My shoulder sort of clicks; my wife likes a certain side of the bed, then she doesn't like my dragon breath turned to the center which leaves me sleeping on one side all the time.  My sinuses hate me; one puff of a cigarette, one dip in the chlorinated pool, and I have goop the next day.  My teeth are yellow;  I need coffee in the morning.  The surf trip was interesting and good.  The waves weren't the glassy perfection they normally are, but not much beats a week of paddling into highly surfable conditions three times a day no matter what the expectation. The paddle is a long one and it took its toll the first day, but my body responded pretty well.  By the end of the trip I was feeling a bit younger, in fact.  I'd like to say I noticed the change in everyone, but really I just noticed the change in the New York contingent.  Those San Francisco guys seemed to show up already thin and mellow.  We New York guys needed a few days to unwind and lose the career fat that builds up like plaque on the urban belly.  Bubbie snapped these of me one of those days.  I appreciate these because I look skinny.  Old and skinny.
-toddy