Coapt

I found a quiet corner of the hospital near a large window and sat down with a large cup of coffee and a newspaper, and relished in something that thousands of people across the nation take for granted: being able to read the morning paper with a cup of coffee.

99% of my mornings start with me waking up around 5am and go nonstop until I leave the hospital some 12-14 hours later. Although there are some slow periods during the day, they rarely stretch more than 15 minutes at a time. Hardly long enough to be able to put one's brain on autopilot. And even then, my pager will go off at some point during that 15 minutes, just enough to keep my stress level from dropping.

But today was one of those unique days when I could bask in the luxury of a quiet morning and enjoy being a "normal" person again. It was a nice deviation from the usual mayhem, and quite relaxing. In fact, I had so much extra time this morning that my brain actually went into overdrive from the lack of stimulation.

I stared at my cup of coffee, and spent some time wondering what combination of criteria classifies my coffee as "breakfast blend". Just as I was about to come up with a theory, my pager went off, and my day started up again.