Editor’s Note: Remember the good old days of blogging? We do. Quite a few writers and editors who have passed through Tweetspeak’s doors (or are still here) first began as personal bloggers. Many of these writers have let their blogs go dormant, changed directions towards a professional aim, or deleted their blogs altogether. So, there’s a whole stack of intriguing, inspiring, sometimes humorous material that’s just sitting in the dark. The Life Notes column is dedicated to bringing that material to light. Because, after all, each of us comes from the stories that made us. And these stories often shine in the retelling.
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An L.L. Barkat blog post, August 23, 2010
Greensleeves, Green Tea, and a Circlet
“Where’s the stapler?” she asks.
I answer with my usual reminder, “You guys used the stapler and never put it back. You’ll have to find something else.” I imagine the black stapler is cavorting with dust bunnies under my younger daughter’s bed, along with The Magic Treehouse: Christmas in Camelot, which I tell the librarian we have lost but will find someday in the abyss.
My daughter looks at the ceiling, frowns, and walks away.
I am at the dining room table. Sunset-golden walls reflect morning light. I’m sipping a green tea I bought on the streets of Granada, Spain. It is called “Te de Carpi.” My favorite part is the lavender-blue petals. What kind of flower is that, nestled in full-leaved green tea?
Not ten minutes ago, I took a slight teaspoon of the mix and placed it in the tea basket to brew. I leaned to take in the fragrance, light and promising, then stared at the dwindling jar of leaves. It won’t be long now. And I don’t know that I’ll ever walk those streets again.
“Look.” My daughter has returned. Her small hand pushes a collection of papers in front of my face. The papers are connected by a piece of green yarn, the same pearly-slate-green as my tea leaves. “Do you know why I used green?” she asks.
I want to tell her to go away. I am sipping my morning tea. I like the quiet of the moment.
“Why?” I entertain her question.
“Because of the song.”
She has found the lyrics to Greensleeves on the Internet, copied them into Microsoft Word, and printed them on two pages now connected by a small piece of green yarn. The circlet of yarn should be smaller, I think. There is too much space and the pages hang apart as if they are possibly not together at all. A staple would be better.
“Can I sing it for you?” she asks.
My morning tea is officially interrupted now. I acquiesce. “Sure, sing it to me.” She sings the first verse and the chorus, then nods in my direction and points to the next verse. I sing and am surprised at how much our voices sound alike, though hers is softer, younger, sweet in the way that only a child’s voice can be. And now we have decided, without planning it ahead of time, that we will sing this song together taking turns.
The last verse is mine. While she is finishing her chorus I whisper, “Let’s sing it together.” We do. Her voice and mine, loosely held in harmony, as if by a pearl-green circlet of yarn.
Featured photo by Fabian, Creative Commons via Flickr. Sonia’s Dulcimer (on which she loves to play ‘Greensleeves’) photo, and post, by L.L. Barkat.
Donna Falcone says
I love this… I can see mother and daughter and everything else right here, in my own mind, and almost taste the tea.
L.L. Barkat says
She was such a cutie. And a marketer from the start ;-).
Bethany R. says
I appreciate the realistic mom-thoughts in the quiet morning. 😉 And I love the image of the two pages loosely connected by the almost living-green yarn. How they’re not perfectly bound, but linked by the fingers of a child, creating another way in the morning.
L.L. Barkat says
Realistic mom thoughts. The ones that say, “Oh, please, quiet”? 😉
I think what I like is the path of the interaction. What began feeling like an interruption ended in a beautiful chance to connect. It’s so hard for harried moms. Sometimes an interruption just ends in frustration. I think this was my way, at the time, of training myself toward the possibility—even as I recognized that quiet tea was important for me.
Bethany says
I can relate to what you’re saying about how interruptions can sometimes end in frustration. It’s lovely to see how this unfurled into something else. 😉
(And I just have to say that I adore the sound of the word circlet.)
Callie Feyen says
I feel the same way reading this as I felt reading Rumors of Water. Deep, contented inhales and exhales in the hoping for quiet morning with young children. Here is someone showing me that while it’s the quiet I want (need?), there is a lot to be turned over in and created from what seems like “it’s not together at all.” Thank you for inspiring me, and showing me how to use what I have.