Somehow, I managed to end up ALONE while I ran a couple errands one evening last week.  As I passed our local McDonald’s, a little voice told me my errands would be more pleasant if I cranked up the 90’s pop playlist I was jamming to and treated myself to a large Dr. Pepper.

Yep…there you have it!  Now, you know my addiction.  90’s music? No.  Dr. Pepper? Yes. I’m not proud of it, but I’ll never overcome it if I don’t own up to it, right? Yes…I know it’s full of sugar and bad for me.  I’ve read about what soda does to the body and it’s not good.  I’ve watched YouTube videos of what it does to a person’s blood 10 minutes after drinking it, yet it’s still something I crave.  I’ve been trying not to drink it as much, yet I felt the need to celebrate because I was getting to run errands by myself that night.  (Yes, when I put it in writing, it sounds ridiculous.)  Any moms out there agree?

I pulled up to the drive-thru, trying to talk myself out of it.  Here’s what was going through my mind prior to the girl on the other end asking me what I wanted to order:  “I’m not going to order Dr. Pepper.  Too much sugar.  I’ll order a large water.  But, that will sound silly since I’m not ordering anything else.  OK, I’ll order a bottle of water.  But, it’s crazy to pay that much for a bottle of water when I could order a large ice water for $.50.  I’ll just order the Dr. Pepper.  But, it’s too much sugar!”  Then, the lady said, “May I help you?”

I still have absolutely no idea what came over me, but I answered with, “Sure…I’ll take a small coffee?”  I feel like the girl on the speaker knew who she was talking to and said, “Just a black coffee?”  She gave me a chance to back out, but I responded by saying, “Yes, just a black coffee, please.”  As I pulled around to pay, I thought to myself, “Why in the world did you do that? You don’t even like coffee? I mean, sure you like the sugar-filled, caramel coated, froo-froo coffee, but there’s NO SUGAR IN BLACK COFFEE! Really?”

As I pulled the cup through my window, I was actually hosting an internal “pep rally” trying to cheer myself on as I prepared for my first drink.  “Mmmm…It smells so good!  Remember when you always wanted to drink coffee with your grandparents when you were a child?  With this beautiful change in weather, tonight is a perfect night to enjoy a hot cup of joe. You can do it if you try! V-I-C-T-O-R-Y!”  Then, I took a drink–somehow hoping it would taste like Dr. Pepper.  NOPE…

At this point, I found myself again thinking back to my childhood.  You know…the “clean your plate” scenario?  I forced myself to drink that coffee because I had ordered and paid for it. LOL… I think next time I’ll just bypass the drive-thru completely and save myself the mental anguish!

If you’re a coffee drinker, I admire you and I sure hope we can still be friends.  Some say it’s an “acquired” taste.  I think I’ll just work on “un-acquiring” my taste for Dr. Pepper.  It will probably be easier.

I’m not sure who said it, but I saw a quote the other day that caught my attention:  “I know the voices in my head aren’t real, but sometimes their ideas are absolutely awesome,” My addition…”but then other times they’ll tell you to order coffee.” Hee…Hee…Hee!  Have a great day!