My cup of tea

In the world I grew up in, secrets were the stuff of life!  I remember reading an article about how a wife should plan her day so her husband never saw her in curlers or without make-up.  He was supposed to think she always looked like that. 

Wealth was the ultimate sign of success and whatever it took to attain it was just “necessary.”  Men, women and children were expected to fall into their role and live it – outside the house if not in.

There were rules.  Rules about how to sit, stand, smile, speak, even think!  If there was an adage that seemed to be popular it was,  “Act and ye shall feel accordingly.”

It was not equitable, but like a teapot on the backburner of the stove, no one even noticed it was there, especially the people in the front room who drank the tea, but never entered the kitchen. 

Of course it was inevitable that at some point the teapot would come to a full boil and its incessant whistling would become both an annoyance and an embarrassment to those trying to pretend their tea wasn’t born of boiling and steeping and all those messier things in life.

Today the bag is usually in the cup and while that may lend itself to an occasional mess, it is much simpler.  Less air.  More conversation.  And if the occasional spill or thrown cup occurs?  Well it is a learning situation.  We are finally growing up.