Since I was about two years old I have been drinking coffee on a regular basis. I say regular, but when I was a toddler I had to wait until my mom stepped away from her coffee in order to scavage the last bits of it. She knew I was coming for it, so she'd add a dash of milk. Mom drinks her coffee black. When my grandmother found out I was going around stealing sips from everyone's coffee she put tobacco in the last drops she had left in her cup to try and detour me. The joke was on her! I nearly died from the spice being too aggressive as I chugged her cup's last; about six uncles and aunts unleashed themselves onto my poor granny, but all I remember is my aunt screaming at me to continue breathing! Good memories! Family fun! Watch the baby gag! She'll be fine. Usually, you could say "Rub some dirt on it" but this was a case of granny grabbing me away from my aunt and apologizing to me, rocking me in her arms, and saying she'll never do that again! (For that, I was ever so thankful)
I don't think I picked up the whole coffee "habit" until I was about 18 and working in Hollywood. I drank whatever was left over in the pot as long as I had copious amounts of cream to put in it. I never cottoned to milk in my coffee. Cream I can handle. At 18 I had graduated and had already worked for a couple of studios in Hollywood as a driver, an assistant to an assistant, as well as writing bits and pieces for dramas and sitcoms. Believe it or not, the writers in the 80's really did come up to the nobodies and ask their opinion. We weren't "paid" per se, but we were taken care of. We were given tickets to things or allowed to sit in during filming, and what not. I worked for James Garner, yes, THE James Garner, and he taught me how to drink coffee like a pro!
Being from Oklahoma, both of us, enjoyed talking about the Sooner State and the things we grew up with that may or may not be the same or similar to what all those "Hollywood types", as Jim called them, had to put up with. We Okies had it pretty good. We rode horses, drank fresh milk, and found fruit alongside the road and/or in someone's garden or yard. We could hitchhike and not worry about anything bad happening. We could catch a ride on a combine if we needed to; but even in those days, the big combines driving down the road blocking all the traffic would have a cup holder in the cab! In those cup holders were cups of coffee and usually served black. I don't get that, I never will. Why do that to yourself? You should love yourself enough to bring the cream and sugar if you want it. I don't really like it that sweet, but yeah, I'm doing the creamer -- even if it's dry powdered crap, I'm not drinking the dredge black.
Jim and I would have at least a full pot before 6:00 a.m. and then another before 8:00 and another before noon. We shut it off around 3:00 and drank whatever was left over; Jim would say we used a spoon to dig it out of the pot so we could drink it. He'd fight you for it! I was pretty much done by noon. This was before Starbucks came along. I think they had them, Starbucks was probably up in Seattle at that time, but the world was not revolving around lattes and espresso drinks in 1979-82. We were good with our pots of drip coffee, and all of us knew how to make it using a tin can if we needed to. Not one of us was foo-foo enough to try foam or anything silly in our coffee back in those days. I just can't bring myself to even pretend to see James Garner ordering a Grande Caramel Macchiato! Wow. I just made myself laugh.
When I went on the World Tour with Faith, and we were often up at 4:00 a.m. and in flight by 6:00 a.m. going somewhere cool, I remember being very grateful for the Starbucks that opened early or stayed open 24/7. That was when I was drinking Four-shot capp with extra foam always in a Grande cup. Damn. Those were the days. I think I'd die today if I tried that. Faith would lick the cup and sometimes I'd go ahead and get her a tall cup with either foam or whipped cream; whatever was available. She liked to be part of the drinking party you know! Many of the Starbucks locations in Hollywood, Ventura, and other local cities now, have actor and director sightings all the time. You can literally sit outside and watch the beautiful people go in for a morning jolt.
One morning, I think it was back in 2008, but I'm not sure. I sat outside the Starbucks in L.A. at the corner of Ventura and something, where the Sportsman's Lodge is, and I watched so many would-be and already famous faces walk into the restaurant to get their morning fix. As I sat and watched there were others who would walk up shyly and ask these people for their autographs, or if they could have their photos taken with them. Time after time they were turned away. Seriously, and it wasn't always nice either. Well, I thought I had had enough. I stood up and announced that Faith the Dog was in the house, and she would allow anyone to come to see her, to pet her, to talk to her, to take photos, and if she was willing and they were willing, she may even give them a big kiss on the mouth! Talk about chaos! The FAMOUS people were trying to move others out of the way so they could get there first -- you know how that went. NOPE!
Faith was a magnet for attention, that's for sure. As I drink my coffee now, and I think about the times I have sat outside or inside one of these restaurants in one of these cities, watching and waiting to see more soldiers or children in hospitals, I think Faith would be so proud of the way I've learned to drink my coffee without making a scene! She wasn't shy or anything, but she was absolutely exhausted by the time everyone in the store, outside the store, coming up to the store, or thinking about going to the store, had finished loving on her. She was the best at it, I have to admit that. She never turned a single person away, not once. (Faith, by this time, had been on over 110 tv broadcasts around the world, she had been on Oprah, Nova, and Discovery, been on the front cover of over 100 magazines, and she had visited more than 1,000,000 soldiers at home and abroad. (Not always American) She was in her own right, a celebrity. Eat your heart out Lassie!
Today, I won't make a cup of coffee without thinking of my sweet puppy. We (together) went to more than 800 different Starbucks stores. I collected their business cards for years. I'm really not a fan anymore, but I can't not remember the times we had, and the gracious hosts and baristas! I'm not going to say I'd give anything to do it again, because I know I'll do it for eternity. That dog got to Heaven before me, and she's getting all the tourists out of the way so when I get there we'll have time to be together - - if I can pry her out of my dad's sweet hands. That may be a feat in and of itself. I know there's going to be coffee in Heaven too, no doubt. It's a perfect drink, and there's nothing about Heaven that isn't perfect. I'm rather interested to see if Jim has even tried anything other than his black sludge as he referred to it. He let me make the coffee as long as I filled the filter up to the top! (Psst...even then we didn't drink Folgers! Jim knew. Life is too short to drink bad cheap coffee.)
This is Faith with my daughter Caity.
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