If years were teapots
and I’d lived thirty here’s what some would be: a heavy clay one, purple with golden stars, I close my eyes and can see it held in my mother’s hands - a greeny-blue one with a map of the world, and Australia cut off at the handle - another with swirls and dots, a gift for my tea loving mama, and years later I would visit the very place in Poland it had been made - the Japanese pot painted with dragonflies, the first that belonged only to me - a tiny yellow 1950s one with wattle on the lid, enough for two little cups - there’s the ornate pewter pot, pouring mint tea from height in all the places we visited in Morocco - a beautiful blue and white pot, covered in willow trees and swallows and mountain side, carried in my hand luggage to France - a brown and green glazed pot Alex found in a paddock covered in earth - the unbreakable (as yet) enamel pot, pale blue, which holds tea for guests and sometimes daisies from the garden - the stainless steel faithful pot, an enduring wedding present; who has boiled our water on the stove for nearly ten years - and the pots I drew in blue ink, one shaped of hair, another with a garden growing out of it - There’s more of course, so many pots over the years that filled the cups; whispers, whimsies, tears and teabags too - The cups of joy, of relief post-childbirth sips, cups of sorrow, farewells, new beginnings, regrets - the cups of faith (the runneth over types) of early mornings, mid-afternoons, evenings when everyone is in their beds (some of the very best) so many shared with friends, strangers, kin, with my husband - tiny cups of rooibos with my children, ceylon, oolong, lapsang souchong, bergamot anything, roasted rice, dandelion roots, Buddha’s tears, fresh verbena leaves - Ah! If years were teapots and I’d lived thirty I’d drink to it’s story: the lessons and the loving, the pouring out and the filling, the adventures and the brewing - Here’s to another thirty...
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ABOUT the authorEmily Clare Sims is a farmer and mama to three young boys. Each day she looks for ways to notice beauty, contemplate her faith and savour the seasons... Categories
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March 2023
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