Friday, June 16, 2006
Friday Coffeehouse: Stopping to Enjoy the Drink
Recently my mother-in-law told me a story she'd heard about a crew of Americans filming a movie somewhere in Italy. A member of the crew asked his assistant to go get him a double-shot from the nearest cafe. The assistant left only to return empty-handed, saying, "the barista says to come inside to enjoy your espresso, like normal people". (And I wish I could put this phrase down in Italian!)
I loved hearing this, as it says so much about what espresso means to different people. To this American crew member it is something quick: an on-the-go fix of caffeine to keep him going. To the Italian fellow it is a special drink not to be taken for granted, but to be enjoyed sitting down.
I can relate more to the American, as I'm sure many people in our culture can. Yet my idealist, romantic side is more inclined to the Italian man's attitude of "stopping to smell the flowers", so to speak.
-An interesting thing to think about in our lives. -When was the last time we sat down over a hot drink with an article, a book, or another person or family member? Even if it's only for 5 minutes, I'm inclined to think it important.
When I was living within the Madonna House community in Ontario, Canada, we would work from morning until evening, for a couple hours at a time. In keeping with Russian tradition, (Catherine Doherty was a Russian baroness) we stopped for tea time every 2-3 hours, gathering together to do a spiritual reading and share a pot of good strong black tea. It helped us to do our work well and to reflect and be still between work periods. Learning a lot from this time in my life anout doing the "duty of the moment" and about working with with other people, I hope to incorporate "tea-time" into my own family day, as well: a few times a day to gather together for a reading or sharing time over a pot of tea or coffee.
For these "coffeehouse posts" I think I'll simply sit down and write about anything that comes to mind within the coffee/tea realm and anything within the realm of "coffeehouse" subjects: tea, coffee, conversation and music, to name a few. -After all, we've named this site: "coffee and diapers", so we had better make coffee a part of it!
~Sia writes from Vancouver, WA
Labels: Reflections
one of us ::
8:40 AM ::
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