Saying Goodbye--Again and Again

In nineteen days, I will be leaving the town I've (begrudgingly) lived in for seven years. (For info on why I've lived here, see other blog posts I've written on the topic--I'm sick of writing about it now.) I will also be giving up my coffeehouse lifestyle because our new apartment will have office space for me and, let's face it, lattes are expensive. I keep thinking I'll get a jump on my new life by saying goodbye to my local coffeehouses now, as a way of gradually easing into things. I've also started packing a few small boxes every day. Unfortunately, I've so trained myself to write at coffeehouses, I'm having a hard time giving them up.


Yesterday, I handed in a full punch card at the Daily Grind (pictured above) and got my free drink; I didn't pick up a new one. I told myself that today I would stay at home and work from the little desk in the living room. But yesterday it was so rainy and today the sun was out, so I felt like a walk. And where better to walk to than the coffeehouse? It's one mile away from my house. I didn't go to the Daily Grind; instead I chose Thomas Hammer, which I'd told myself weeks ago I had visited for the last time. And yet here I am, drinking a nonfat El Diablo. This is harder than I thought it would be.

I want to give up caffeine and yet I didn't order decaf. I want to learn to work entirely from home but I can't seem to stop leaving the house. And while my husband can go to a coffeehouse and use their internet and sit for hours without buying anything, I can't. I don't want to. I'll just have to make sure, when we move, that my office is way cooler than any coffeehouse I can imagine. This is going to take some work.