Skip to main content

Tea

Disclaimer: In the name of full transparency, please be aware that this blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me (at no extra cost for you).

I remember with much affection my first taste of warm, amber-colored, honey-infused tea. It is as ingrained into my heart as my first kiss. It wasn't so much the tea, I don't think, as it was the memories attached to it.
I was about 20 years old and dating one of my friends from high school. Since my own family was going through some turmoil at the time, I spent as many hours as I could at his parent's house, where his family accepted me as one of their own. On Friday evenings, the whole family would gather at the dining room table for cards and board games. And I was invited to a place at that table, that table filled with laughter and hugs and heartfelt words of encouragement.  I felt for the first time in a while, like a child, following the smell of platefuls of fresh molasses cookies as they were passed around the table. And I felt, for the first time, like a grown-up, as I was handed a delicate china teacup to drink from. 
But mostly I felt loved and included. I felt important, that I was seen and heard, and yet free, that I was expected to do nothing more than just be myself. These were all new feelings for me. I drank them up as deeply and as copiously as that almond tea. 
These memories still follow me. Years later, brewing a cup of tea has become a small but practical way to remind myself of what's truly important: making room for others, listening, encouraging, and enjoying their presence--being fully and wonderfully in the moment with the person next to me. 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Small Stuff

“Rule number one is, don’t sweat the small stuff. Rule number two is, it’s all small stuff." Robert Eliot A few months ago I drove over a deep pothole and instantly knew my tire was busted.  On the way to the car place, I was explaining to my daughter, in a slightly exasperated, woe-is-me voice, that we were going to get the car fixed. I explained that she had to be patient because it might take a long time and we would have to wait until the car was done to drive home.  She stopped playing with her dinosaur and started bouncing excitedly in her car seat. "Mommy is that the place with the table and chairs and the kid toys?!" "No honey, we're not going to a restaurant or the library. This is the car place." "Yeah, where we get our wheels fixed?" "Yeah, that one." "Mommy, there's a table and chairs and lots of toys there! Are we gonna play with them?!" I was too preoccupied at that moment to answer her ques...
Post a Comment
Read more

Of Babies and Yoga

Disclaimer: In the name of full transparency, please be aware that this blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me (at no extra cost for you). Seven years ago, I had given birth to my daughter via C-section. I was looking for a way to ease back into physical activity and get rid of the pooch I had developed. During a diaper run to Walmart, I stopped by the fitness aisle and was surprised to find a 30-min workout DVD for new moms. As my new baby slept the next morning, I got down on the living room floor and began what was, to me, an extremely difficult 10-minute core routine. I knew my core was in bad shape and I almost gave up—but the DVD kept playing, and the next routine was a yoga flow. I had never done yoga before. I pictured a skinny woman with ridiculous flexibility chanting while standing on her head. But instead, a normal woman greeted her viewers and walked us through proper pose alignment, breathi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Wide Eyes

This week was my daughter's birthday. Being the extroverted, fun-loving, child she is, she had been looking forward to a party with all her friends since Christmas. But with all that is going on in our nation and in our world, that was not possible. So we talked about it: as we ate lunch together, we talked about why we wouldn't be seeing our friends for a few weeks and why we didn't have money to get her a bigger bike. She was disappointed but also understanding. She's a good kid. So in order to make her birthday a little special, I wanted to do the little things I know she loves: like flowers, which are not in bloom here yet in PA, so we picked some up at the store. And making cupcakes, which she has been asking to do for a while. Y'all, I've never made cupcakes from scratch before--especially not gluten-free ones. I have friends who love baking and who make beautiful cakes for their kids' birthdays all the time. But I found a reasonable recipe and we had...
Post a Comment
Read more