A Cup of Tea.

Can I offer you a cup of tea?I never really heard these words very often growing up. But they seem like lovely words. It feels welcoming and warm and closing your eyes in the hot steam seems like a treat on a blustery day battling a cold. The blood runs to my fingertips as I cup the radiating warmth.Please, come in. Let me get you some tea.It feels like the right thing to offer. There's caffeine free or caffeine jolt, so that doesn't cause any disputes. The tea pot whistles when it's ready and even a boiling pot of water makes a nice bubbling noise. Cream lightens the dark mood and honey sweetens things up. It eases down scratchy throats and alleviates throbbing sinuses. It's warm and waits for you to indulge, never kissing your lips before you're ready. When it's too hot, you'll know. There's never a doubt in your mind.And it will wait for you, whenever you're ready--patiently, it will cool down. The bliss can begin when you're both on the same page, when you're both comfortable and you're both patient.Please, come in.It's the coming in part that isn't always well received.While we wait, tell me how you're doing.My eyes beg you to take that back. I want to focus on the sprinting of my blood to my fingertips and I want to skip ahead to the part where the honey slides down my throat and leaves me wanting more. I just want to breathe in the steam and close my eyes and think about everything that's lovely and wonderful and pure and comforting about this cup of tea. I thought you asked me if I wanted tea and I said yes and here I want to be with just me and my warm cup of tea.My body aches and the tears won't come and I'm exhausted. Are you sorry you asked? Are you sorry you asked me if I wanted this cup of tea or are you only sorry for the please, come in or the how are you doing?You listen to my anxious eyes, yet you want me to come in further. It's the pain and the tears and the eyes and the fingers and the teeth and the mouth and the head that are the annoyances. It's the heart and the brain and the life and the feelings and the worries and the dreams that are real. Is that what you wanted to hear?This cup of tea is more than you bargained for.Invite me back another time and ask me to come in for this cup of tea when I'm having a good day and when the pain is gone. Invite me back and one day I promise that my eyes will be excited and joyful and will thank you for having me. Invite me back and you won't regret the please, come in next time because I promise the annoyances will fade and we'll figure out a cure or at least how to deal with the annoyances and we can laugh and we can talk about so much more over that cup of tea and we won't even remember that we're waiting for the tea to cool down.Invite me back another time and I will get you a cup of tea. I will even ask you how you are doing. The whistling pot will sing a pleasing melody and the honey will smile and I will care so much about how you take your tea.