Tea & Crumpets

My job title is Caregiver, my job is being a companion. Servicing seniors in their homes is what I do for a living. Today, my primary client, Mr. John Doe (Oh, so you've heard of him, too??lol) gave a very special gift to me.

To help you understand a side part of this, Mr. Doe is from a country where tea is one of the highlights of the day, and the prefered drink with lunch and dinner. Not iced tea, but hot tea with sugar and cream. At first, I thought it looked kind of gross. But, after several days of watching him enjoy his tea so much, I decided to go home and try it myself. Hmmmm, that was pretty good.

Today, Mr. Doe was spending some down-time out on his patio, just watching the cars go by and scanning the sky for rain. I decided to make him some tea and serve it, along with some of his favorite cookies, to him. So, I did.

Mr. Doe is about as old as Mathuselum (sp?) and has the most beautiful european accent. After he sampled his tea and declared it good, he looked held up the cup, looked at me, and asked, "Are we going to share this cup?" I smiled because I knew it was his way of wandering aloud whether I was going to have tea with him. I smiled and told him no and that I would be right back with my cup.

As I sat with Mr. Doe and sipped on my tea and had cookies with him, a thought entered my mind. "I wander if this cookie, dipped in my hot tea, would taste good." I dipped the cookie into the tea and then took a bite. What??? That was Really good.

The longer I sat there in silence with Mr. Doe, the more I began to evaluate what was happening. I had just been given a beautiful gift. It was a gift I had wanted for a long time ago and now it was happening. The gift was to sit with a wise and dear old friend and enjoy each other's company in silence. There were no words for about 10 minutes and it was amazing how peaceful those minutes were.

When I remembered my wish from before, I thought about how I'd imagined that (not one in particular) dear "old" friend would be one from years ago, not in the literal meaning of old. God knows how much I love elderly people and I think this was God's way of not only granting my desire of the past, but also, I think it was His way of bringing a special comfort to my heart and soul, to put a soft touch on the ending of what felt like such a harsh week.

Today, I had tea and cookies with an old friend. I am blessed.

Until next time,
Love and peace,
PB&J