coffee, sweet

I didn't always drink coffee. I have never really cared for coffee. When I worked at the university bookstore, I'd have coffee during really busy, stressful times. People around me knew to avoid me when I was having coffee because I only drank it when I was in a bad mood.Coffee isn't a soothing, happy drink. If I want to be soothed, and happy, I'll drink tea.Anyhow, the last 10 years, I have become a regular coffee drinker. I used to have to drown the coffee in cream and sugar to cover the taste. And then I started dropping the sugar, and finally the cream. I have been drinking black coffee for a while. Every morning. Who am I? Eh, we all evolve. I happened to evolve into a coffee drinker.But coffee is bitter, and I really only drank it because I was in a bitter mood. Well, at least to keep myself in a sort of stressed, on edge state, I guess.But lately black coffee has been...wrong. I wasn't drinking the cup I'd pour. And this past week I have started taking my coffee with cream and sugar again.And that reminds me of my grandparents. I have vivid memories of them drinking coffee at McDonald's. I used to get to drink those little cream cups that came with the coffee. I'd get to stir the coffee with that tall, skinny, brown plastic spoon with the M on top, and then I could put the spoon in my mouth. It was sweet, and bitter. It was creamy. It was a little bit of rebellious adventure since we weren't allowed coffee as children. Really, I only started drinking coffee in my late-20s. Mostly in my 30s.I don't know why springtime always makes me miss my grandparents. It's partly memories of how my grandmother loved the blooming lilacs and peonies. It could be because it's the time of year that my aunt, grandfather, and grandgrandmother all passed away (May, June, and April). It's ten years this month that my aunt passed away. Nine for my grandfather, and eight for my grandmother.And something this week is tugging at my memories, and emotions, and I have these vivid memories of stirring coffee in styrofoam cups (oh, the 80s) at McDonald's and getting to taste the sweet, creamy coffee on the tip of that stir-stick. And I feel... content? Nostalgic? Happy?Happiness might be the closest. I am happy right now. I don't feel stressed, or bitter, or anxious. I am in a very good place in my head, and I'm comforted by the memories of my grandparents, and their coffee. I don't remember who had the sweet coffee - my grandmother? My grandfather didn't like sweet stuff very much. I just remember getting to stir the coffee, and loving those little skinny stir-stick-spoons at McD's.I'm still not at the tea-in-the-morning stage, but I have started taking my coffee sweet. And as I drink it, I remember. I feel calm.On a side note: I miss the pirate ship seats that McD's used to have when I was a kid. It was the best getting to eat on a ship in the middle of a restaurant!