It is common knowledge that if you have been dumped, lost your job, are facing a huge decision, or your precious pet Scruffy has passed away; a cup of tea is the answer to all of life’s hardships. I grew up in a family that believed this wholeheartedly.
We were lucky enough to enjoy family holidays three times a year in our house down on Durban’s south coast. My grandparents would often come to stay. When they did us kids would try to avoid any adults at 8:00am, 1:00pm, 4:00pm and 7:00pm as we would certainly be asked to make yet another tray of tea. It was the worst possible job. No matter what you had been doing, you were forced to stop and make a full tray of tea. Not just a mug of tea; teapots, teacups, sugar bowls and milk jugs had to be included (WITH a doily, purely for the purpose of decoration). At 30 degrees Celsius it would be too hot for such a beverage, but this would not deter these die hard tea drinkers.
This is now a custom that has passed down through the generations. My husband knows that if he has to wake me up early, he only needs to present me with a cup of tea to coax me out of bed. I find nothing better than a nice cup of tea after dinner. This love of tea is something I definitely inherited from my mom and granny.
On the day my beloved gran passed away, the entire family met at my grandparent’s house. It was a time we all needed to be together. We spent the whole day there, talking about my gran, grieving our loss and laughing at all the fun memories of her; and I can’t tell you how many trays of tea were made that day. She would have loved it!
No comments:
Post a Comment