Constant comment or hibiscus? I go between the two, or ginger when I need real warmth. If it’s after 9 o’clock, I go for chamomile. But having a tea is less about the tea, the point is transition. The time for tea is something felt, it beckons us, it keeps our place throughout the day like a bookmark. When we’ve finished the morning rituals, when the mind begins to wander, and just as the birds reach their midday slump, so do we. If you’re enjoying your read then pause, make yourself a cup of tea, and come back to the words, lets make this meeting official.
My kitchen has a little room off to the side, too small to be called a dining room, but it’s where our vintage Hoosier Cabinet holds all of the Pyrex mixing bowls, and where we sit for meals. Our dinner table is perfect for 2 but unfolds for the occasional guests. Have a seat in my wooden fold-able funeral chair, it is a prized thrift find! Tell me how you’ve been doing, lets commence this perfect pause together.
Until you’re still, you’ll never hear the thoughts that count, the ones that remind you of how the sun looked streaming into your bedroom window that morning; you forget to wonder how someone might be doing, the ones you haven’t heard from in a while. To sit with a tea, to fiddle with linens on the table, to sip carefully, is a chance for your soul to speak up. Sometimes mine says to me, “go smell that rose bush before the frost gets ahold of it.” A to-do list that includes “smell the rose bush” is a happy list, not all tasks are daunting. A side quest could unfold, you might find yourself cutting a backyard bouquet of zinnias for the neighbor, and then remembering someone’s birthday is just around the corner, you wind up immersed in one of those spiral church cookbooks reading cupcake recipes. Time for a refill.
Busy hands that need a rest can be satisfied as you smooth your fingers over the ceramic glaze, feeling for bumps of imperfection, evidence of something handmade, human-made. I think you can get to know certain mugs just like you come to know certain people. At first you are familiar with them, and then you learn that on your weakest days you can depend on their loyalty. Just like a steadfast friend, one you know where to always find. And so really, to the non-tea drinkers, you’re not missing out on the tea, you’re missing out on the moment, the ritual that lends an ease to the occasional discomfort of existence. In my earlier years, the tea was a smoke on the back porch. Yes, tale as old as time, just a girl, sneaking a cigarette. What can I say but “sometimes we grow, we trade in old habits, we try to do better.” Aren’t our minds just begging for a break, a chance to have ideas? Most often we have simple realizations if given a chance to be curious, but when the moon is full and high we can experience wide revelations, be struck with genius, or know exactly what we need to say to that certain someone. Take a few minutes to ponder a question you didn’t know you had, run it by a friend, and see where they take the thought, find out you are just alike or so different that you learn something.
Give your mind the wings it deserves, tea doesn’t last forever and soon after you can go back to refreshing your feeds. At the bottom of the cup we find contentment, and life goes on. We have solved the world’s problems, given our souls a voice, and forged connection. Until our next cup of tea please take care of yourself.
Thank you for reading, and as always.. drop me a line sometime,
I DO love to chat!
readnwrite11@gmail.com
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