If we’re patient, eventually we all get to unpack our china tea sets

I’ve had a box sitting in the corner of my studio ever since I cleared my mother’s house out after she died over three years ago (can it really be three years?!).

I’ve looked at the box every time I’ve gone in my studio and thought, I really must unpack that box, but days, weeks, months and years have gone by. It’s not that I didn’t want to see what was in the box, it’s not that I didn’t have a use for it’s contents, but something (and I don’t think it was just lack of energy or time) meant I haven’t opened it.

The right time

Last weekend something changed. It simply felt the time was right. I brought the box into the house, opened it, and started to unwrap the carefully packed contents.

Inside the box were two delicate china tea sets. When I was small they used to come out for high days holidays and always brought with then an air of occasion. I wonder if my love of the ritual of tea drinking comes from those special occasions.

The cups, saucers, plates milk jugs and sugar bowls were all wrapped in a mixture of newspapers (dated the week my mother died) and bubble wrap. The pile of packaging I was left with were reminiscent of a Christmas morning, but a Christmas morning tinged with sadness as that sad week when I was packing up my mother’s house felt suddenly very close.

An impromptu tea party

Mostly though, it was lovely to see all the china. I had baked a cake earlier in the day and a good friend had called round to help eat it. We all sat around enjoying an impromptu tea party, Earl Grey tea out of china tea cups and golden jam filled sponge off little china tea plates. Later on I cleared some space in the sideboard (also inherited from my mother) and packed away the tea sets until it’s time for the next tea party.

Remembering to trust

I spend a lot of time in my life thinking that I ought to do this or that (maybe you do too?) but energy, time (or something else?) means I just don’t or can’t. It is lovely to have a reminder that if we’re patient, sometimes patient for a very long time, and learn to trust, then the right time for doing something can and does come along.

The next time I lose that sense of trust I’m going to get a china cup and saucer out of the sideboard and sit quietly sipping tea.

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