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I am a morning person and have always been one. Some of my earliest memories are of watching my bedroom clock while straining to hear the first hints of movements from any other human in my childhood home. I could not fathom why, Why, WHY did everyone but me insist on staying in bed past 5 a.m.? Why was no one as impatient for the company of my conversation as I was for an audience?
My mother has had the last laugh, in that mysterious payback system of grandchildren. It is my youngest child who is my earliest riser and of all my children, his activities have always been the most unpredictable; he's amazingly handy with screwdrivers, scissors, door bolts...
Recently, I've found something that produces a quiet morning state in him- Gong Fu style Chinese tea.
It amazes me how quietly he will sit drinking his tea when he is allowed to pour his own.
Quiet is something I encourage. Even quiet punctuated by slurping. The Chinese lady in the tea shop taught him how to slurp very loudly because slurping is polite in Gong Fu Tea. I think she is just a very clever sales lady- what 6 yo boy doesn't love to slurp?
I don't mind the slurping- a small price to pay to postpone early morning talking, or shooting sounds.
He loves White Peony tea the best. Oolong second. It cracks me up to hear him ask for Oolong by name.
Wait a minute! I suddenly understand why my mother started allowing me to drink coffee when I was 5 years old. Growing up we had a huge Sunday meal complete with company and conversation and yummy desserts. I thought it was the ultimate luxury and mark of my own maturity to be served a cup of coffee during dessert and allowed to scoop my own sugar and serve my own cream and sip my very own, very special grown-up cup of coffee.... I had no idea what my mother was really up to.
I guess I'm just continuing her legacy of caffeinated quiet.
.
.
I am a morning person and have always been one. Some of my earliest memories are of watching my bedroom clock while straining to hear the first hints of movements from any other human in my childhood home. I could not fathom why, Why, WHY did everyone but me insist on staying in bed past 5 a.m.? Why was no one as impatient for the company of my conversation as I was for an audience?
My mother has had the last laugh, in that mysterious payback system of grandchildren. It is my youngest child who is my earliest riser and of all my children, his activities have always been the most unpredictable; he's amazingly handy with screwdrivers, scissors, door bolts...
Recently, I've found something that produces a quiet morning state in him- Gong Fu style Chinese tea.
It amazes me how quietly he will sit drinking his tea when he is allowed to pour his own.
Quiet is something I encourage. Even quiet punctuated by slurping. The Chinese lady in the tea shop taught him how to slurp very loudly because slurping is polite in Gong Fu Tea. I think she is just a very clever sales lady- what 6 yo boy doesn't love to slurp?
I don't mind the slurping- a small price to pay to postpone early morning talking, or shooting sounds.
He loves White Peony tea the best. Oolong second. It cracks me up to hear him ask for Oolong by name.
Wait a minute! I suddenly understand why my mother started allowing me to drink coffee when I was 5 years old. Growing up we had a huge Sunday meal complete with company and conversation and yummy desserts. I thought it was the ultimate luxury and mark of my own maturity to be served a cup of coffee during dessert and allowed to scoop my own sugar and serve my own cream and sip my very own, very special grown-up cup of coffee.... I had no idea what my mother was really up to.
I guess I'm just continuing her legacy of caffeinated quiet.
.
.
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1 comment:
I LOVE this! I'm going to have to do this with my daugther. Maybe by her birthday she'll be ready for her own tea set. Perhaps I should start with a plastic set first, though....
And I feel happy reading your posts again. :)
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