Ever have “one of those days” when everything you touch turns to crap?  I have.  It was one of those days when I would have been better off just staying in bed.  I almost did … accidently.  It was a Monday (of course) and I apparently had failed to set my alarm clock the night before.   I woke up feeling refreshed and rested.  I immediately knew something wasn’t right.  I don’t feel refreshed and rested on Monday mornings.  I feel tired and burned out on Monday mornings.  I have great difficulty getting started on Monday mornings because I generally get to my office around 5:30am.  It’s a 30 minute drive to the office and it generally takes me 30 minutes to get ready in the morning so do the math.  My alarm should have started my crappy Monday off at 4:30am but it didn’t.  I woke up refreshed and rested and looked at my clock and saw it was already 5:30am and my day went to crap.  You see, not only was I late, but by sleeping until 5:30, my wife was now also late.  Needless to say, we collided a number of times while trying to get in the bathroom and closet getting ready to run out the door. 

I finally hit the road at about 5:50, just in time to hit the beginning of rush hour.  You see, one of the benefits of going to the office so early is a complete lack of traffic.  No traffic jams, no morons cutting in front of you, no confused dimwits who can’t grasp the concept that the LEFT LANE IS THE FAST LANE!!!!!!  No lanes shut down for “construction”.  Nope, just me and my satellite radio.  By the time I get to the office, I’ve had some coffee.  I’ve had about a half hour to accept the fact that I have to go to work since I really don’t want to live in a van down by the river and decide to make the best of it.  Now, throw all that bad stuff in a blender and you pour out a good glass of Monday morning alarm failure.  I’m already late.  Then every bubba with a cute little Nissan pickup truck decides to test me.  I drive a full size Suburban “Clint Eastwood” mobile (Go ahead punk, pull out in front of me.  Do you feel LUCKY?  Make my day).  I am fortunate I have a nice cushy steering wheel because I’ve squeezed the stuffing out of it and my knuckles are ash white.  I feel my blood pressure climbing through the sunroof and I really want to go “Mad Maxx” on somebody.  I have fantasies of installing some James Bond crap on my truck so I can have the highway all to myself.  I finally get to work after about 50 minutes of dealing with imbeciles who unfortunately are probably multiplying and adding more imbeciles to the gene pool.  Of course, work is a joy (insert sarcasm here).  I can’t go into much detail about work frankly because if you’ve read this far, I don’t want to put you completely to sleep.  Suffice it to say, I repeatedly look at the clock to see if it’s lunch time yet because it’s Monday and I always go to my favorite cigar shop on Monday at lunch. 

I survive the morning emails and other stuff that would put the Tasmanian devil in a coma and at 11:00, I head to the shop.  Here’s where it gets weird.  I grab a Puros Indios Viejo Toro and spend about 45 blissful minutes of peace, quiet and tranquility.   As soon as I entered the store, the shop owner could probably sense things were not going well so no chit chat until I’ve made my purchase, poured a cup of coffee, sat down in a comfy leather chair and started my process.  I smell the cigar and get a nice woodsy pre light aroma.  I pull by double blade cutter out and kill the cap.  The pre-light draw is perfect and the flavor is tempting.  I torch the foot and puff the cigar to life.   After the first good draw, I exhale and sink down deep into the leather chair.  Only now does the owner ask me how things are going.  My response is “Better now”. 

Between the wonderful cigar, the strong coffee, and the good adult conversation with the owner of the cigar shop, my sucky day just got better.  By the time I leave the cigar nub in the ashtray and head out of the shop, my blood pressure is down, my day is fine now.  On the drive back to the office, some guy in a Nissan pickup truck needs to move over a lane show I slow down and let him in front of me.  I get back to the office and pitch into the job I love and help the people who work for me love their job.  The day is over quicker than I care to think and I’m headed home to dinner and down time with my wife, my two daughters, and my two black labs. 

Isn’t it amazing how some rolled up tobacco leaves can change one’s entire mental frame of reference?   Gotta go.  It’s Monday and it’s almost lunch time.

Don Riffe

“Deriffe”

Moderator - Reyes Family Cigars Forum