The Rising Cost of Living

The cost of living is going up. It hit close to home today. No, not the obvious increase in the cost of gas. But an increase in the cost enjoyment, of pleasure, of one of life's little joys.

Denna and I really enjoy our cup of coffee from McDonalds. When we have an early morning errand we like to stop at the corner McDonalds for a cup of fresh hot coffee. Especially now that they started putting in the cream and sugar for you. We like it better than any of the Starbucks or Duncan Donuts. A nice mild breakfast blend piping hot with just the right amount of cream and sugar. I get a large with 4 creams and 2 sugars and Denna gets a medium with 3 creams and 1 sugar. Perfection in a cup!

Every since we started placing that order the cost of the two cups of coffee has been $2.96. It's been the same now for, I don't know, maybe 2-3 years. A long time. It was something you could count on. Got $3 in your pocket? Great, we can get our two cups of coffee. It seemed a reasonable price, less than $3.00. A little high compared to the cost of brewing a cup at home, but still not too big a splurge once in a while. Heck, we're worth it!

I remember once, while visiting Denver, that we stopped by a McDonalds to get our coffee and it was $3.40! Amazing, that much difference between the two McDonalds. Made me glad we lived in Marietta and could enjoy life a little bit cheaper.

But now things have changed. The inexorable creap of inflation, the drip, drip, drip of the rising cost of living has been brought home to us here in Marietta. I'm sure other things have gone up. I keep hearing about it, reading about it. But I really truly haven't noticed if the cost of a loaf of Nature's Best Whole Wheat bread is higher now than it was last year. I don't know if a jar of Duke's Mayonaise is more. I just never have watched prices that closely to know for certain. But now I know!

We had to make an early run this morning and so we stopped by our McDonalds. I call it our McDonalds cause it feels like ours. Like we're a part owner, a partner. I hate the drive-thru's and so I usually go in to get the coffee and I've been there so many times now that the little hispanic girls working the counter know me. They don't know my name, but they know I'm the tall gringo that orders 2 coffees, one large and one medium. They never can remember the amounts of cream and sugar, but that's ok. It's still nice to be recognized, to be acknowledged as a regular. Kind of like Cheers without alchohol.

So I place my order and the register rings up $3.16. What? Not $2.96? I ask her if she rang up two larges instead of a large and a medium? "No," she says, "one large and one medium." I look at her and she gives me that, "What can I say?" look and a shrug and then it dawns on me. It's here, right in my backyard, right in my pocketbook. Things have gone up. I feel it, I know it, I can taste it.

I paid the $3.16 (luckly I had more than just $3 in my pocket) and took the coffee to the car and told Denna about the higher cost. She kinda shrugged it off. Just another $.20 to her. But not to me. The world keeps changing, prices keep going up. It's the normal course of things. Heck I can remember Dad buying me $.15 Krystal hamburgers as a kid. He'd buy them by the bag full for me in an vain attempt to put a little weight on my skinny kid frame. Now Krystals are what? $.89? I don't know for sure, but they're higher.

So yeah, things go up, I expect it. But this one has hit too close to home. Life doesn't feel the same now, like an innocence has been lost. Like maybe we're pushing through that price ceiling they talk about when discussing stocks. That ceiling, that once broken through, erases all limits, allowing prices to just keep going up and up and up and UP. I don't know.

But I'm going to watch the price of Dukes now.