It's Time for Tea

  Picture this.
  I am running errands with my 8 year old daughter and my 6 year old son. I'm still in my residency at Children's and I'm wearing my scrubs. I'm tired and I probably look like I haven't slept for days because I haven't. 
  I pop into a tea shop that I've never seen before and am confronted with dainty teacups, beautiful tea pots... and cool coffee stuff too. Don't touch anything, I whisper to my kids. 
  The owner comes over, escorts my children to some stools and proceeds to make my son a cup of hot chocolate and my daughter a cup of mostly milk but a splash of tea. In a real tea cup. She is awestruck. He served me mostly tea and kept the caffeine flowing. God Bless him.
  In his first life, Kyle was a teacher. He still teaches. He taught us about tea that day and Kelly understood that this was no pretend tea party, this was the real deal. A cup of tea came to symbolize comfort, conversation and the kindness of a stranger.
  Fast forward.
  I write a book and the editor makes a comment in the margins. Do you know how many times you wrote the word tea? What? She counted? Apparently, there are computer programs to help make sure you don't overuse a particular word. Apparently, I did. Perhaps it was because I did most of my writing in the morning...with a cup of tea. Anyway, I fixed it. 
  Check out The Cultured Cup that my character Rose orders tea from. These are the greatest guys and "There will be Blood Orange" is a real flavor. Tell them I said 'hello'.