Monday, August 14, 2006
Little Rituals
Little rituals can be vital to the shape of my day. I had a powerful reminder of this the other day when my husband suggested I learn to drink my tea in the morning with regular milk. To his surprise, I started crying.
I’ve packed my life so full right now that I sometimes feel I don’t even have time to breathe. Certainly, I’m less stressed that previous times in my life-I’ve learned coping strategies that help maintain balance, but the fact remains that my weeks are so full, I have little leisure. One thing that I do have in my days is my little rituals.
In the morning, I make myself a cup of tea. Until a few weeks ago, this was an elaborate coffee ritual, but I’ve switched to tea. The tea: equal trade darjeeling. Water: brought to a rolling boil. the tea bag carefully steeped about 3-4 minutes until it is a rich, translucent brown. In a china mug--not plastic. a small amount of sugar, just to bring the taste of the tea out a tad. And Whipped Cream on top.
The whipped cream is my extravagance. Such a luxury--frothy white and slightly sugary. half and half doesn’t have the rich fattiness of whipping cream.
My husbands error was simply not understanding how very much this luxury has come to mean. My one time of the day I allow myself to fully relax. No work, no fretting, just me focused on setting up, making, and drinking this cup of tea.
Afterwards, life comes crashing in, but for 15 minutes in the morning, I have luxury. ¶ 8:21 AM
Little rituals can be vital to the shape of my day. I had a powerful reminder of this the other day when my husband suggested I learn to drink my tea in the morning with regular milk. To his surprise, I started crying.
I’ve packed my life so full right now that I sometimes feel I don’t even have time to breathe. Certainly, I’m less stressed that previous times in my life-I’ve learned coping strategies that help maintain balance, but the fact remains that my weeks are so full, I have little leisure. One thing that I do have in my days is my little rituals.
In the morning, I make myself a cup of tea. Until a few weeks ago, this was an elaborate coffee ritual, but I’ve switched to tea. The tea: equal trade darjeeling. Water: brought to a rolling boil. the tea bag carefully steeped about 3-4 minutes until it is a rich, translucent brown. In a china mug--not plastic. a small amount of sugar, just to bring the taste of the tea out a tad. And Whipped Cream on top.
The whipped cream is my extravagance. Such a luxury--frothy white and slightly sugary. half and half doesn’t have the rich fattiness of whipping cream.
My husbands error was simply not understanding how very much this luxury has come to mean. My one time of the day I allow myself to fully relax. No work, no fretting, just me focused on setting up, making, and drinking this cup of tea.
Afterwards, life comes crashing in, but for 15 minutes in the morning, I have luxury. ¶ 8:21 AM
