Ah, well, today was an interesting today.

 

A bit tiring, but, interesting.

 

The parents at my son’s elementary school have a tradition of hosting a “Teacher’s Tea.”  As usual,  with these types of events, I got sucked in, er, volunteered, to help.  

 

I was “assigned a table”-- this meant that I was supposed to bring in my best tablecloth, (I only own one), my nice china, (I don’t have any), and my fancy flatware, (ditto there, too.) (Our flatware came from Wal-Mart and Target.  Does the Target stuff count as the “fancy” ones?)

 

But, I did have one interesting item that could be used at the tea, in addition to my one and only nice tablecloth.

In 1995, I traveled to Beijing, China for two weeks for the country’s first ever telecommunications’ trade show.  It was an adventure on many levels, not one I am eager to do again, but I did bring home a few interesting souvenirs.  For my Mom, I purchased a pretty silk robe, and for my grandmother, I bought this delicate tea set, package in this beautiful red, padded, fabric box, with two intricate ivory clasps to hold the box shut.  When my grandmother passed on about ten years ago, the tea set was passed back to me.

 

I’m not a very fancy person, and neither is my husband, (hence the reason we chose not to register for expensive dinner china when  we got married.  We didn’t want to register at all, but my Mom said we had to register someplace.  So, we finally registered someplace online that tied in to a couple of stores that sold very practical items like camping gear, and towels, (which we could use after surfing.)  I just didn’t see myself as a frilly little plate person.

 

I’d never used the tea set since it had been passed to me, except to have tea parties with my son.  He liked to use it to have tea parties with his best friend Erin.  I’d let them use it as long as they were sitting in the grass.  I’d set out a picnic blanket for them in the front lawn, give them some water and a few crackers.  They’d pour water back and forth in the tea cups and pots.  I figured the chances of breaking stuff were minimized if they were sitting down, and on the grass.  They still managed to chip a cup and break the sugar lid, but, I never really thought I’d use the set, and they were having such a lovely time with it.)

 

But, well, what do you know... I finally had a call to actually use the tea set to actually serve tea... to adults.

 

Wow.

 

The only other thing I had to set my table with were some cute little “french bistro” plates that my good friend Susan gave to me for Christmas last year.  (Thank you, Susan!)  I actually use these all the time, because they’re really cute, each one is different, and they’re dishwasher safe.  Ah, that makes them darned near perfect in my book.

 

So, well, I guess it would have to do, and that would be my “table.”

 

So, today would have been a good day to take the car, because I had to carry in the tea set, the table cloth, and the set of french bistro plates.

 

My son said: “No, Mom, pleassssse can we take the bike?”

 

He’s gotten so used to taking the bike, he really didn’t want to be driven to school.  Since he goes to school by tandem bike, he has been elevated to a whole new standard of “coolness.”  Kids just stare at him when he whizzes by them on that bike.  And, with two of us peddling, we can go REALLY fast in the bike lane.  The car traffic just backs up, and here we are, whizzing by all these cars on our bike.  You know those kids sitting stuck in traffic are thinking: “Oh, man, I wish I was on that bike...”

 

So, I used my larger backpack, the one I use for hiking, and stuffed everything in there on Friday... the tea set box, my one tablecloth, and my one set of semi-fancy plates, (thank you Susan.)  The lady in charge of the tea said she would bring the rest of the stuff to make up for what I didn’t have.  I told her I could stay and help all day, and apologized for not having that other stuff.  I said my husband and I just weren’t the fancy entertaining kind of people.  We just hadn’t registered for any of that kind of stuff.  We hadn’t wanted to register at all when we got married, but my Mom insisted we at least register someplace, so, in the end, I think we registered for some towels and a few appliances.  (You always need to take a shower after surfing to get the salt water off, and everyone’s gotta’ eat.)  

But, fancy china?  All I could remember was having dinner at my brother’s house, and it being a big deal when one of the guests dropped a $12 wine glass.  That was like 10 years ago.  I still remember who the guest was, (his name was Herb), what it was, (a wine glass), and how much it cost, ($12.)  He and his wife felt bad and insisted on paying for it.  My brother and his wife were trying to be gracious and kept insisting they didn’t have to, and it interrupted the whole flow of the dinner party.  And, 10 years later, I still remember that whole damned incident.  

So, I decided right then and there, it is ridiculous to have such fancy stuff that you freak out if it breaks.

 

When my husband and I met, it turns out we were off the same mindset.  We found a set of plates we liked that were easily replaceable.  We break them all the time doing dishes and stuff, laugh it off, toss ‘em in the trash, and buy another.

 

Not a single Herb incident to be had.

 

But, the teachers tea was really lovely, I must say.

 

And, my little table did look nice, with my one tablecloth, the matching napkins, the pretty little teacups and saucers, the sugar bowl (without the lid), the pretty tea pot, the delicate little tea cups, and my pretty little French bistro plates.  With the borrowed flatware and borrowed water glasses, it made for a fine looking table.  I served tea, poured water, and made polite conversation with teachers for the 11:30 lunch seating, the 12:15 lunch seating, and then again at 1:00 PM for the yard duty staff and cafeteria staff.  I realize now we forgot to invite the janitor, when we invited the yard duty and cafeteria stuff, and the janitor is a very nice man.  He is learning English, and I am learning Spanish, and we’ve had some very nice conversations.  We both have learned enough of each other’s languages to have long chats.  By the time we cleaned everything up, it was already 2:15 and time to pick up my son.  

I was surprised how tired I was.  I worked in restaurants all through high school and college, and always enjoyed it very much.  I enjoyed the physical exercise of working in the restaurants, and the social aspects of chatting with customers and co-workers.  The fact that setting up, serving, and cleaning up from this tea tired me out so much shows that my body still isn’t full recovered.

 

Or, perhaps, I guess, I’m only human, and at age 39, I can’t do all the things at age 39, that I could do at age 16.  

 

Nahhhh.... I think it’s just normal fibromyalgia cycling.  Seriously, I feel like I am aging-backwards.  I am getting younger all the time, because the fibromyalgia-crud is leaving my body, and I’m getting healthier and healthier.  The healthier I get, the better I feel, and the better I look physically.  I can physically see the difference in my appearance when I look in the mirror.  I LOOK different than I did four years ago, when I started the Guai Protocol.  There is no doubt I have physically changed.  I am aging-backwards.  Go ahead and laugh, but every year I feel better.  So, bring on the years.