“In the morning we get coffee”...

While living in Haiti often felt like a dream, it was equally filled with intense challenges. The heat, for one, was relentless. I didn’t have air conditioning, just a small fan that barely made a dent in the thick air. With little running water, I would shower by filling a bucket with water and dumping it over my head, lathering my body as quickly as possible. There was an insane amount of bugs. I often found cockroaches crawling out of my shower drain or spiders larger than my hand scaling the wall. But the most difficult thing to face was losing power. The house would often lose power at night, which meant no fan- my only saving grace. I would lay awake all night in the heat with mosquitos buzzing around my head. These nights were nearly impossible.

So what made it possible- S + R became my saving grace. On the nights when I would lose power, they would invite me to sleep at their house. Their house had air conditioning and big comfy beds. It felt like I was staying at a hotel. I’d show up at their house exhausted and dripping with sweat and get a hot shower, clean sheets and a cold room to sleep in. I’d walk into their house carrying the stress of my day, often in tears, and it would all melt away.

Every night before bed, S would hug me goodnight and whisper, “In the morning we get coffee.” She drank her coffee religiously and ritually. She made her morning coffee such a sacred act, that all day long, and all night long, you looked forward to your next morning coffee. It was like no matter how difficult your day had been, in the morning it would all be ok because in the morning we got coffee.

So in the mornings, R would start the coffee maker, and I’d crawl into bed with S, sipping a strong cup of espresso, reading our morning devotions, and chatting about how our day would go. These morning coffees have become some of my favorite memories to date.

So, I’ve kept this ritual going for myself. I keep my morning coffee as a special, sacred moment to look forward to. And now, every night before bed, I intentionally prep the coffee for the next day, whispering to myself, "It’s all going to be ok, because in the morning there is coffee.”