Visiting Over Tea

1/11/13 

Visiting over tea with friends from Chile

When I was in my mid-twenties and in nursing school, I shared a large house with a Chilean refugee and her 3 year old daughter and three other women.  Olga came here after the coup in Chile, 1973, and lived here several years before it was safe to return home to Chile.  Over the years, I’ve seen her a few times when she comes back to visit.  I’d love someday to travel there.  We share a close friend, Hilary, so we keep up with each other’s lives through her.  They both came to visit this evening and we shared a pot of mint tea, with Dino joining in.  It is wonderful to catch up with old friends.  I laugh and say most of my friends turn out not to like tea (how did that happen?!), but they always will share a cup with me anyway.

I met Hilary in nursing school and she first introduced me to Olga.  Hilary had lived in Chile and still has many friends there.  She and I have remained friends for over 30 years and seen each other through the many trials of courtship, births of our kids, young families, older parents, and deaths of loved ones.  We are all so blessed when we have friends like that.  

This evening’s visit was prompted by seeing Olga but also because Hilary had asked my advice for a tea to send back to Chile for a tea-loving friend, and I purchased a couple of very nice loose leaf black teas for her to send back with Olga.  I love it when people ask my advice on tea!