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Growing up, my parents had no clue about which diet fads were good and which ones were bad. So like all great parents, they let me have caffeinated pop all the time (and yes, it’s pop, not soda). I was never big on hot drinks for some odd reason, and so when I was a teenager, instead of transitioning to regular coffee, I created my own cold frappuccinos by mixing milk, coffee grinds, and vanilla ice cream. It was truly a disgusting creation but I loved it. In college, I continued with the iced coffee craze and drank whatever yummy concoction was at the local coffee shop, and continued to still drink pop as well.

This was until I met Mr. I-think-you’re-the-love-of-my-life-but-in-6-years-I’ll-find-out-you’re-not. Let’s just call him Bob. Although Bob turned out not to be the love of my life, he was good for some things. For instance, Bob played college football and as an athlete, he was very health-conscious (ok maybe not all college athletes are health conscious, but this one was). As part of his healthy diet regime, he didn’t drink anything with caffeine. After meeting him, I decided to give it a try and just quit cold turkey one day without thinking of any potential side effects. I was young and dumb and in love, and all that actually helped me.

Around the time that I quit caffeine, I was also studying for the law school admissions test and then applying to law schools, on top of finishing school full time, working part-time, being involved in a myriad of extracurricular activities, and somehow managing a social life all at the same time. I began to have excruciatingly painful headaches every day. I thought it was just stress and about 6 months or so later, the headaches eventually stopped. It wasn’t until after several years of being caffeine-free that I realized those had been withdrawal symptoms. It’s a good thing that I didn’t know at the time because had I realized it, I may not have been able to kick the habit. I effectively had freed myself from my caffeine addiction, so well that I can still on rare occasions drink caffeine and not crave it afterwards.

A few more years later and I moved to what seems like one of the most caffeinated cities in the world. Everyone here complains of seasonal affective disorder (I really don’t get it, how can you be sad amidst the green lushness that takes over in the rainy winter of the Northwest??), and to help bring energy to their days, they drink coffee. And more coffee. And even more coffee. Between Portland and Seattle, I’d be willing to make a wager that we have the most coffee shops and carts per capita of any city in this country. I mean, Starbucks was first established in Seattle, so that’s saying something. And yet I have managed to remain caffeine free.

However, I’m also getting old (the big 3-5). As an old lady, I don’t have the energy to always go out when I get invited to all the fun stuff I get invited to (see December 13 post). Although I celebrated my birthday on a Saturday, my actual birthday was in the middle of the week. I met some friends for dinner after work and then a new friend invited me to meet up with her and her friends for some bar-hopping. It was a work-night and my energy level was super low. So what did I do? Drank some good ol’ pop. Took me back to the days of my childhood. I’ve been virtually caffeine-free for so long that just a small amount will perk me right up. It did just the trick and I was bouncing off the walls way past my bedtime. But I had to prove that I’m only 35 biologically, not mentally. Besides, a little bit of fun every now and then never hurt anyone, even us old thirty-somethings.