My mother’s sister has collected teapots and teacups for many years. Neither were ever coffee drinkers, The one time she took a swallow of coffee, she thought to herself, “You have to be a grown-up with hair on your chest to drink that.” But my aunt began drinking tea later in life. Her family noticed she drank a lot of tea and started buying her cute little teapots and teacup sets. Thus, began a collection that would change over the years. She would display them around her house and had a little table in her dining area with some of her favorite pieces.
As she’s in her 80s now, she’s begun the process of giving away her treasures to family so there’s less to sort through later on. She still lives at home and seems to manage quite well on her own, so I was a little surprised during one of our visits earlier this year when I mentioned something in her living room and she told me to take it home with me, which I did. As the days passed, I thought about this one particular teapot on her table that I knew I wanted to have. So, we called her and told her about it so she could keep it for me until I could get back over there.
Behold, my fruity teapot. When I asked her where she got it, she said, “Flip it over.” I was again surprised and laughed as I showed it to my mother whose name was written on the bottom. “I gave you that?!” She has no recollection of where she actually purchased it or when, but now it’s mine and I’ll never forget where I got it and when. A funny story for a funny teapot.
Some like it hot
As a Southern woman, Carol had only ever heard of iced tea growing up in the 1940s and 50s. She simply had never heard of hot tea before. It wasn’t until she herself was a “grown-up” with two small children until she saw someone drinking hot tea for the first time. A woman with a child the same age as Carol’s would have them over for the kids to play together. Carol saw her drinking a cup of hot tea one day and thought, “Now, why would anyone drink that with hot water?” But after a while, Carol tried it for herself and started drinking it with her and has been drinking tea for all of her life now. While I myself have 5 cups of coffee every morning, I do have tea in my house with honey and I will always think of my Aunt Carol when I have hot tea.