Making Tea

[The Stage is on Fire] is a page-turner in which, much like life, there are no easy answers and yet each step of the journey yields insight and hope. This work of heart must not be missed!

Melanie Faith

Creative Writing Teacher, Essayist & Poet.

Katie Steedly’s first-person piece [The Unspeakable Gift] is a riveting retelling of her participation in a National Institutes of Health study that aided her quest to come to grips with her life of living with a rare genetic disorder. Her writing is superb.

The Society of Professional Journalists

In recognition of receiving the Dateline Award for the Washingtonian Magazine essay, The Unspeakable Gift.

I thank you … It is the authenticity of your “class notes”; and it is the delicacy and skill with which you present the nuances of classroom life and the actuality of your students’ and fellow teachers’ lives.

Maxine Greene

Philosopher and Education Scholar

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Given sincerity, there will be enlightenment.
The Doctrine of The Mean, 200 B.C.E.

I have, more or less, stopped making tea. This passage makes me reflect on why that is. A few years ago, I enjoyed a pot of chamomile tea every evening as my mind would wind down from a hectic day. I have a polka dot tea set I bought on a trip to Woodstock, New York, with dear friends. It sits on a shelf in our living room for use when I am sick. A few years ago, I went to a tea class where we practiced yoga and drank tea. That did not reinvigorate my tea practice.

Why I have stopped regularly making tea.

My life changed.

I drank tea when I was single and lived alone with two cats who liked to sit by my side while my tea was steeped. I drank tea when the rhythm of my life included black tea in the morning for a boost and chamomile tea at night to settle down. That was my ebb and flow. Those were my comings and goings. A cup before my morning workout and a cup before brushing my teeth and going to bed. That is how it went. Today my days are different.

I forget tea.

Now that tea is not part of my flow, I forget to pick it up at the grocery. That speaks to my current priorities. The patience and the nuance required in making tea have faded from my day-to-day. My curiosity about how different teas smell and taste waned. Living with a person who is not into tea has impacted my tea-making, too. I am sure why I don’t invite it back into my routine.

The space tea held in my life has shifted.

The space for tea in my life has shifted but certainly still exists. The cracks and crevasses tea used to occupy are still there. The enjoyment I once found in making tea still dances in my mind – the creativity and sensation. Tea is like all things. There is a season, and I have lived through my tea season. I doubt that. The tea lessons – patience, flavor, aroma, contemplation – are still mine to learn. My tea set reminds me of dear friendships. Tea soothes, comforts and slows. When I give myself permission, tea transports. That is where sincerity and enlightenment enter in.