It's happened to all of us. First thing in the morning we pick up the most important tool in our battle against another workday in the  Garden State, the cup of coffee. We anticipate the joy of that first sip. We take it and immediately feel something wet on our chin, and seconds later on our shirt. The lid is leaking...again!!

It's 2012, we have phones that we can have complete and fulfilling conversations with, but nobody can make a coffee lid that doesn't leak??  But before you get in a bad mood and let out a Garden State growl, think about this. That leaking lid is symbolic. That lid separates New Jerseyans from everyone else. That leaking lid would mean the end of that cup of coffee for residents of most other states, but not us. For us, it's just another battle in the war against the workday.

We will lift that lid and clean it, we will twist it around on the cup to get a better angle. We will put a napkin on our shirt. We will take the lid off completely, we will twist the lid itself in hopes of reshaping it and we will lower our lower lip to catch the leaking coffee. The one thing we won't do is give up. We'll finish that coffee if it means we need to get the interior of the car detailed, or we need to retire a shirt or two. In New Jersey we don't give up.  

We deal with potholes, high taxes and dumb New Jersey jokes. We handle traffic, long lines at restaurants and no parking spots. We chuckle at these things each day. And we shrug at the NY on the Giants' helmets. We know where they play home games, and it's NJ.

So, here's a little message for the coffee cup lid. Get your rest if you think you're gonna ruin our day in New Jersey. You'll need it.  

[Jersey's Point of Lou is a weekly column featuring the opinions of 94.3 The Point's Lou Russo sounding off about all things Jersey. Have a topic you'd like to see Lou talk about? Leave a comment below] 

More From 94.3 The Point