Greet the customer and take their order. It doesn't matter if your heart aches or your head hurts. Smile.

If they order coffee, ask if they want creamer. Remember, there are five different syrups—white chocolate, chocolate, caramel, hazelnut, vanilla. Three of them are sugar-free, three pumps equate to 50 cents.

One small coffee contains one long shot of espresso. A medium, two short shots. A large, two long shots.

Now, if Tina asks you what the difference is between a latté and a cappuccino, tell her a cappuccino is stronger than a latté; there is less milk and more foam. And on mornings when you can't get the words to stick and everything is gray, that's exactly what you should take.

I can't tell you how many of my customers return the next day, or the same day the next week, and every week after that. But I can tell you this: The faces change every single time.

While more than half of our customers are regulars, it's especially nice to work at a place where there is a strong sense of familiarity and a prevalent connection with the customers. A little consistency will take you a long way, and I suppose this job did me a favor.

Still, I often find myself peering out the glass windows.

The future scares the crap out of me, but it isn't something I can walk away from. From San Francisco to Boston to Washington D.C., to New York City, to San Diego, to Denver, to Pismo. The past year has consisted of spontaneous midnight coffee runs, journalism and friends that make me laugh until my stomach hurts—everything I need to endure the rest of the year.

And sometimes I think about how I let societal ideals pressure me into doing things I never desired or giving myself to someone that couldn't handle all of me. And then I remember, it's all over. And this is the after.

So when the doors open at 7 a.m. and the customers start rolling in, I let my heart sink and I smile.

And when Tina asks me what she should have for the day, I tell her to order the cappuccino.

Life will give you lemons to make lemonade, but when the barista gives you lemons, you cut them for the iced black.