Morning Tea

I don't miss Australia too often. Most of my extended family is now in the US, and life with my own family is wonderful, busy and exhausting. Occasionally I hear or read something about The Land Down Under, and experience a pang of "homesickness." I miss it more whenever I talk to my sisters.

Yesterday I received a surprise e-mail from a high school friend. I was SUPER excited to re-connect with her, and hope to be able to get together when we are down there next year. However, it did start me thinking a lot about the people & things I miss from home.

One of my smaller sorrows, is the lack of a ritual morning tea in the US. Taking a break mid-morning to have a soothing hot drink and some delicious biscuits (cookies) or a lovely pastry always seemed to me to be a reward for making it that far into your day, and who couldn't use that?

Since it's impractical for an entire workforce to take a break at the same time, morning tea is generally staggered, and various employees take a break at different times. When I was working, it was always a surprise to look forward to. Who would be having morning tea when I did, and whom would I spend extra time with that day? If you know me, you know that having someone to talk to is a prize in itself, but on days that a favorite person was muching and sipping at the same time as me, I felt even more rewarded.

Over the past 16 years in the US, this is what my morning tea has degenerated into -
(1) Make a cup of "Mother's Milk Tea" (breastfeeding support - it's not really mother's milk), while the kids are eating breakfast.
(2) Notice the cold mug after Rebekah heads out the door, and pop it in the microwave.
(3) Walk past the microwave, after putting Emily on the bus, and remember it's there. Heat it again.
(4) Head off to whichever morning activity Jacob has that day.
(5) Come home for lunch. Discover tea in microwave, and toss it out.
(6) Make a new cup.
(7) Put Jacob into bed. Re-heat 2nd cup of tea, and drink it while begging Jane to fall asleep at the same time Jacob is napping.

I think for now, the closest I'm going to get to a good morning tea, is watching the "Koala Brothers" enjoy theirs. Five years from now, when Jane starts kindergarten, I'm re-instituting morning tea in my house, and you're all invited.