With Mother's Day almost upon us, here's a personal story I'd like to share. My first introduction to anything tea related was through my mother's tea cup collection. They were delicate, beautifully decorated bone china cups and saucers, each unique and none matching. My father started her collection by buying one in each of the many towns he visited on his sales trips during the 1950's. His business trips lasted a week at a time, returning home on the weekends, and would never fail to bring back a gift for us. For me it was some little trinket he thought I would like, although I have to admit, I was usually more fascinated by soaps/matchbooks collected from hotels and restaurants along the way. My mother would get a gift-boxed tea cup. I still remember the look on her face when she opened one: a combination of joy, pleasure and genuine gratitude.
Years later, she displayed them on the shelves of a maple hutch purchased to match her dining table & chairs. It was definitely the focal point in our dining room making her extremely proud. One weekend she was preparing to entertain family and friends at a holiday meal in our home and decided to move the hutch out just slightly from the wall. Not realizing the upper portion had become top-heavy and listed forward, a large number of the cups and saucers came crashing down. I think it had to be one of the saddest moments of her life. She cried for days: mad at herself for taking on such a task, but more than that, the gestures of my father's love were beyond repair and irreplaceable. As time passed, the pain of her disappointment faded and she forgave herself.
She passed away at the age of 75, only two weeks before her 52nd wedding anniversary. After my father died years later, I became the proud owner of the remaining tea cups, now my most treasured possessions. Nothing gives me more pleasure than drinking my favorite tea in them and remembering when they first made their way into our home.
Happy Mother's Day ~
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