For today’s Birth-day a quote

“If you don’t know your options, you don’t have any.”

                                            A Good Birth, A Safe Birth by Korte & Scaer

and a story.

You pass by a shop with a sign out front that says “Mama’s Traditional Columbian Coffee Served Here!”  You don’t typically drink coffee but all your friends go on and on about that Starbucks place (and isn’t that Juan Valdez guy from Columbia?) so you decide to take a detour and get yourself a cup.  Inside, the shop is plain but neat and clean.  The staff seems friendly enough.  There is no line so you step up to the counter.

“I would like one Traditional Columbian Coffee, please.”

“That will be $8.50, ma’am.”

The price seems a little steep but you’ve heard your friends comment on how their weekly coffee habit is “breaking the bank” so you assume it’s normal and slip your cash across the counter.  You watch as your coffee is prepared quite efficiently by the young man in back.  He is completely fastidious about the process.  Each bean is counted then ground.  Water is measured and something else is added that you cannot quite see.  The brewing seems to be timed to the millisecond.  And he fills the cup exactly one quarter inch below the rim.  You know because you watch him measure it.

“Here you go.  One Traditional Columbian Coffee.

Given the process and the cost, you must assume this drink will be delicious so you take time to settle yourself at a nearby table first.  Bringing the steaming cup to your lips, you gingerly take a sip.  As the warm liquid rolls down your throat another warm sensation begins to overtake you.  Your face heats up just as it does when you’ve had too much salsa.  No, more like that time when what’s-his-name slipped a jalepeno into your hamburger… What is in this coffee?!

“Water!”  you croak to the boy behind the counter.

A couple of the other patrons look up from their cups.  One shrugs his shoulders sympathetically.  The other, a lady, grins enthusiastically. “Don’t they just make the BEST coffee here?,” she gushes.

You look at her wide-eyed and then you:

A) return to your table armed with a large bottle of water (That’ll be $6.25, ma’am.) and resolve to finish that coffee to the last drop.

B) grab your things and stomp out of the shop guzzling your complimentary dixie cup of water.  “I will never drink coffee again,”  you vow.

C) angrily turn to question the Barista about the contents of your drink.

“It’s cayenne pepper, ma’am”

“You put cayenne pepper in your coffee?!”

“Oh, yes!  Cayenne clears the sinuses and helps your circulation.  It’s a traditional family remedy.”

“But I don’t need my sinuses cleared or help with my circulation!  I just wanted a cup of coffee.”

“Oh.  Well, you should have asked for a different kind then.”

“You have different kinds?!”

Obviously, this isn’t everyone’s story.  Some people order their first cup of coffee and it’s great.  Some take a friend who suggests the Dulce de Leche and really, how could one go wrong with that much sugar?  On the other hand some experienced coffee drinkers get a bad Barista and through no fault of their own are forced to drink a crummy cup coffee because they are late for work and don’t have time to go back and complain to the manager and after all the point is getting the caffeine and they got that so they should be good … right?

Birth is a great adventure.  Do your best to choose wisely.