Think of Me

I hesitate to write about tea, because it ranks as one of the larger blessings for me.  Teacups are something else. I could drink tea from a Hello Kitty mug if I had to, but my collection of teacups are small blessings. Someday  I will share my crazy lusterware cups, but for today...  behold a very sweet and rather homely member of my collection. This is a very small "tea party" cup that my Grandma sent me from England.

My father's mother came along with our family to United States in 1952. Her beloved young husband had died in the influenza epidemic in 1921, leaving her with two small sons and no money. Grandma eked out a living mending clothes in her small Yorkshire coal-mining town. One of her sons, my Dad, made his way through medical school on scholarships and won a position as an exchange student to the U. S. That changed Grandma's life forever, because he returned, engaged to an American girl.

Since I am not writing a biography, we will skip ahead to the time my parents and their little girl and Grandma picked up and moved across the ocean. Grandma never became an American citizen. In the following years she often lived with us. She is euphemistically described as "difficult", but was very kind to me.  Grandma made extended visits to England over the years. Each time she would send me a little teacup. This little green and white cup with comical feet is one of my treasures because I consider it a window into the heart of a woman who loved me in spite of being "difficult". The back of the cup has the words, "Think of me".