Americans Don't Do Tea

"Are you coming to Tea today?"
I never heard that expression when I was in the States. I read about it in Jane Austen novels. I thought it was something romantic and whimsical that happened in England and Ireland. But guess what? Canadians do Tea! And now I do, because they've asked me. And I think it is romantic and whimsical even though I go in my jeans and nobody is wearing lace or hats. It's just a bunch of ladies drinking tea and eating dainties. But Tea is the hub of the wheel and I've finally figured out that the reason you need Tea is to relax, pause, and fellowship. With that warm cup in your hand you can't say you really have to go, or you don't have time stay. The time frame starts and stops with the pouring of the first steaming cup, and the downing of the last sip. I wonder if God designed the cooling rate of H20 to correspond to the exact amount of time it takes to have a nice conversation and relax? It's seems the kind of thing He would do.

I'm not sure Americans can adopt this custom because like me, we think you have to do this:







This is tea for Americans. We just can't separate the two. And I blame it on 18th Century English Literature. Our forefathers should have put a line or two about Tea somewhere in all those documents they passed down to us.