This morning I stumbled into the kitchen to make breakfast for the kids. First though, I needed coffee. I got a mug, selected my K-cup, put it in, hit the large button, and started making breakfast. I'm not a super hot coffee drinker so I usually let the mug sit for 5-10 minutes to cool off.
Eventually I made my way back to the Keurig but no coffee was waiting on me. The cup was set to the side, empty. I knew I had pushed the button so I panicked but there wasn't a mess anywhere. I chalked it up to a pre-coffee brain. I put the cup under and pressed the button again. It started pouring out an opaque liquid that resembled tea way more than coffee. So I went and got the coffee expert.
Jenna had me track down a paper clip so she could "clean the needle." Then she took the Keurig apart and noticed the drip tray was full of coffee. I mean full. Sherlock Holmes was not needed to deduce I had run the Keuring without a mug underneath it and the drip tray shockingly holds an entire cup of coffee. Something tells me the clever engineer's focus groups said this was necessary for people like me.
Jenna, of course, had a huge laugh at my pre-coffee brain and decided to go ahead with "cleaning the needle" since it was already disassembled. She wrapped it up and (laughingly) told me she started a new cup for me. I went back to the kitchen a few minutes later to a cup of water. Not tea this time, but just plain, clear water. I returned to the expert.
"Run another cup" was all the expert could say through her confused face. The confused face was there because she couldn't figure out how I screwed this cup up when I wasn't even in the room. So I returned to the scene of my morning confusion-still in my pre-coffee brain. At this point we were all almost ready to leave and I still had not had any caffeine.
I went to the kitchen, opened the Keurig to confirm a pod was in the machine, and pressed large. Hot water started running out of the sides of the maker, pouring down the sides to the bottom, and falling like a wide waterfall into the cup instead of the usual drip. Crystal clear mind you. 95% of the water was making it into the cup so the mess was somewhat contained. I reopened the top and realized there was no hole in the K-cup. Then I noticed a large plastic piece in the sink. Mrs. Smarty Pants had forgotten to put the piece of plastic, that actually holds the Kcup, back into the maker before she started my coffee. Water was just pouring over the closed cup, filling the area with water until it could hold no more, and then letting it all pour out of the Keurig's seams.
I informed the expert of her mistake and we shared a mutual laugh this time at the Thursday Morning Coffee Saga. So finally, I am able to press large and the dark brewed caffeine was pouring into my cup. Sigh. Life was good. Now it was time to go. I got the kids corralled and out the door with jackets and backpacks. We told mom goodbye and off we went to start our Thursday.
In the drop off line at 720AM I was feeling pretty good. I love laughing at myself as much as anything in this world. All I could think was that together, Jenna and I make a whole; UNLESS we haven't had coffee and then we might make one half. I reached down for my cup to have my first drink of caffeine of the day. I forgot the cup at home.
