28 days of wonder #9

When did I first taste that sweet beverage that would become something of an addiction?  No, not alcohol.  I am talking about the common, everyday, latte.  It is hard to remember a time when we were a town without a Starbucks (as opposed to today when we have four within a one mile radius).  But I have a vague memory of ordering a decaf latte at some point when I was trying to cut back on caffeine and the barista asking if I was pregnant.  I guess that was the only reason someone would order decaf in her mind.  That must have been at least 18 years ago.  And here I am this morning, another Starbucks cup, filled with my newest beverage addiction – rooibos tea with steamed rice milk.  No caffeine.  No dairy.  No one to ask why I am drinking this beverage in a time when triple shots and lots of extra syrup and sugar are the norm.  Just one of the benefits of making your own morning cup of comfort.

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Let us have some tea

“Come, let us have some tea and continue to talk about happy things.”

Chaim Potek

After weeks of waiting, wondering, coming to know that mom is drifting away from us, I find myself in need of some happy talk.  Yesterday I spent a bit of time with our soon to be married daughter.  It was our pre-wedding hang out time.  We went to a lovely tea store.  I had a gift card from my birthday and we happened upon these watercolor tea cups.  They come in a set of 5.  Apparently 4 is not a lucky number so this set has 5 cups, 5 saucers.  There was something that drew me back to this set and finally I decided to buy it.  I have not been a tea drinker for too long but I am drawn to the way a cup of tea forces me to be patient, waiting for water to boil, for the tea to steep, for the cup to cool enough to drink. 

There are many changes coming into my life but I will make a cup of tea in my new cups and try to be grateful for the fullness of this journey.

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Peace in a cup

I didn’t sleep well last night.  There was a lot of rain and wind and I kept thinking about what needs to be done for work or the wedding or home.  Normally I would just get up and start my day early but I have been so tired.  I finally fell asleep and then of course overslept so the day had a ragged beginning.  But I found I could open up the different compartments of my mind, take care of a task and then move on to the next.  Again, this is not my regular approach.  I try to multi-task and cross-task and end up feeling that I haven’t completed anything.  I don’t know what led me to try a new approach today.  Maybe it was the sense of urgency, of needing to have a lot of stuff checked off the list.  Maybe it was the idea from Amy Tan’s book, The Bonesetter’s Daughter, of listing tasks in groups of 5 or 10 and assigning them each to a finger.  As you go through the day, your fingers are the reminders of what needs to be done.  Maybe it was purely lack of sleep and operating on instinct instead of overthinking.  The one thing that kept popping into my head at every turn was the promise of a cup of tea and a book to read when I got home.  The tea is brewing, the book is waiting patiently.  The next hour is for paying attention to what I really need – peace in a cup.

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