When I left for the Peace Corps in 2012, I gave away my furniture to family and friends and kept personal items in my children’s basements. When I returned in 2014, I decided to move to the east side of Cleveland (those of us from Cleveland understand that that means I was still in a foreign country) and moved into a small apartment. Most furniture was provided, and I gathered some things from my children’s basement, but I did not have a coffeemaker. And I am a coffee person.
I mentioned this to a friend who said – I have an old Mr. Coffee which I never use anymore, and you are welcome to it. With my caffeine plan in place, I could now focus on learning how to find my way around my new neighborhood.
This worked well until the glass carafe cracked. It was an older model and I debated buying a new one until I saw how badly the new ones (in my opinion) were made, so I went about looking for a new carafe. I discovered that they were hard to find in stores and even online, so I did what I should have done in the beginning - I went to Goodwill. This was several years ago when there was a small, unassuming one on Shaker square. Incredibly, I found one in perfect condition on my first visit.
A few years later my wonderful Mr. Coffee maker stopped working. I tried everything (my generation does expect things to work forever) but finally gave in. Time to look for a new one. Or old one at Goodwill. Which I did. And again, the coffee gods were watching over me and there it was – a 10 cup Cuisinart in perfect condition.
This year though, the filter started to tear and when I went to buy another, I discovered that it was no longer made. The Cuisinart website did not list my model in its replacement part site (a clue) and when I emailed them to ask about it, they said that it was no longer in stock.
Sigh. My run of great old coffee makers was over especially because the Goodwill on Shaker Square had closed during the pandemic. I accepted this as a sign from those same coffee gods and bought a new one. A simple five cup Black and Decker from Home Depot that so far works well and makes good coffee.
Why am I writing about coffee? Simple answer is that it is still a pandemic and it is raining outside now. Another is that I am astonished that my new coffee maker works. But the honest answer is that I have finally accepted the obvious - sometimes the present is not so bad and maybe the future is better than I think.
And now, off to have that cup of coffee – fresh from my lovely little new coffee maker.
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