this post has been a long time coming. 3 years to be exact.
I drank tea without milk. Except as a child. When I would only drink tea and no milk. So they had to give me milk tea.
But then I drank tea without milk. Because it was what was normal.
Then I moved. Houses and countries and continents.
So fast it made my head spin.
So quickly it made me giddy.
So many sights to smell and scents to touch.
And along the way, I met people. Some drank tea with milk. Some without. Some with lemon slices. Some with condensed milk. I tried it all. And for the longest time I was content, to just drink my tea without milk.
But then you stay away for too long. And you meet people who are too strong. And so I started drinking my tea only with milk. Forgetting, or perhaps not remembering, that I liked it without.
A heartbreak and a homecoming later. I drank it exclusively with for a while. To keep that last tenuous thread intact. Then exclusively without for a while. To ensure the thread was severed.
And now, I drink it with and without. Depending on the wind and my fancies on the day.
Because you learn that real friends are like slipping on an old comfortable pair of jeans you always loved but forgot you had. that home will heal your soul and take you back, when you're grown up and ready to be taken back.
that the people and moments that matter will stick with you, no matter how you take your tea.
Tea-mages from lorises on Flickr
