Cup of Tea

Blogger's challenge 5

8:56 AM.

That was the timing when I knew about this week’s challenge, I was happy because I thought it’ll be an easy one but I forgot that the word challenge exists for a reason. What is my favorite memory? I asked myself while knowing that this question has its pros and cons. Pros: I had lot of great memories that I’m grateful for; cons: I can’t pick one to write about! So until I figure it out, I promised myself not to rewrite this or delete it.

4:30 PM.

After dwelling with the chamber of my memories, I finally found one. However, the odd yet beautiful thing about this memory is that it keeps repeating itself so please read this with a peaceful mind and leave everything behind your back.

In 2014, my mother had to go through a very complicated surgery in order to remove a cancerous tumor and to be quite honest by now we are used to that. However, before every surgery my mom has to talk to us as if it’s our goodbye and it is painful even though we go through this process over and over. This time it was my turn to talk to her first; she called me to tell me how much she loved me, I was on the verge of crying because it hurts to fake goodbyes –I know she’ll always come back- but before my tear falls she said something while we were in this situation,

“Don’t forget your dad’s tea after the Maghrib prayer.”

For a second I remained silent but then I started laughing because we were caught up in this ugly scene but all she thought of was tea. She was serious, so I stopped laughing and promised her that I won’t forget it and this is how we concluded our conversation.

Weeks after her recovery, she came back home and right after the Maghrib prayer the pot of tea was ready with mint on the side. I laughed again and when dad asked me why, I told him the whole story. He told her that there were other things that you should’ve worried about but all you thought of was a cup of tea and she replied to him by saying that she sees things differently.

It is not a perfect memory that is weaved out of happiness but this memory.. I keep on carrying it with me and I try to remind myself of it whenever I face a hardship. You see my mother was caught up in a tough situation but she chose to ignore it and focus on a cup of tea; and since she is my book of wisdom, I learned that with every hardship I should think of that cup of tea.

Memories don’t have to be created in perfect scenery for it to be engraved in the back of your mind as “good memory”. They can be made in sad hopeless situations or happy ones but later on it’ll show you that it’ll be there on the shelf of memories and if you placed it right, I’m sure this memory will make you smile.

Now every time my mom travels I tell her, “his tea will always be ready and there’s a cup for you as well” and she laughs because both of us know that she’ll come back.