It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. I was just out of the hospital having had a bi-lateral mastectomy. I came home in pain, shock, full of drains and swathed in bandages. I felt I had been bludgeoned and the world was upside down.

My best friend was staying with me. She had stayed with me in the hospital too. The very definition of friendship is that one person who will sleep in a chair in your hospital room for three nights to make sure you’re okay. They don’t give medals for it, but they should.

I didn’t recover quickly. It wasn’t just the physical changes or pain. Breast cancer requires a revision of a woman’s sense of self and womanhood. There’s no such thing as “simple healing” when one loses significant pieces of ones body, especially those pieces which are specifically identified as “feminine” and without which … well … it’s different.

I was not a happy camper, but I was alive. I had a family, my friend, and a few good computers. There was food to eat, coffee to drink. More slowly than I imagined possible, I got better.

Until the coffee machine died. One morning, I slunk into the kitchen and there was water everywhere. The Mellita machine we’d had for a  few years sprung a leak. Its life ended in a giant puddle on the kitchen floor. It’s actually quite remarkable how much more water 12 cups is when it escapes its carafe and takes up residence on the floor.

We tossed the Melitta in the trash and realized we were in the midst of a major life crisis. We most urgently, desperately and immediately needed a new coffee machine.

Garry and Cherrie went to the local Walmart — literally the only shop in town and it isn’t even our town, it’s two towns over — and ended up buying a Black and Decker. It was a 12-cup machine and came with a reusable filter. It seemed a sensible choice. Without further ado, the new machine was set up and put into service. We were saved. There would be coffee.

We are a coffee-loving family. Coffee is the start of the day. No coffee? No way! The household went into emergency mode.

Within 48 hours of getting the new coffee machine, we all began to lose our taste for coffee. No one wanted a second cup. We weren’t even finishing the first cup. A 12-cup machine was previously not big enough for all of us and we had to make a second batch. Now, one pot was more than adequate. We had leftover coffee.

One morning, Cherrie said she thought maybe she’d like some tea. Garry decided he didn’t really need coffee and I didn’t want any either.

Suddenly, I knew. It had to be the coffee machine. Until we’d gotten the Black and Decker, everyone loved coffee. A week later, no one was interested. Cherrie wanted tea? Cherrie?

I sent Garry out with instructions to come back with a Mr. Coffee. It may not be the best machine on the market, but it makes consistently good coffee.

Out went the Black and Decker, in came Mr. Coffee … and coffee was back. I eventually surmised that the Black and Decker fed the water through the grounds too fast to produce the right flavor … and there was something weird about that metal basket (we went back to paper filters). Also, the water was the wrong temperature.

The years have come and gone and we are one more Mr. Coffee down the road.

We are happy. There is coffee. It is good and hot. It is the smell and taste of morning, the one single thing I can’t imagine giving up. Take away everything, but do not take away my coffee. Or Mr. Coffee. When you have a good thing going, you don’t mess with it.

Mr. Coffee. Accept no substitute.