ZEN BUSTED :: sarah

At 9-5 desk job I have taken to drinking tea. I have done so for many reasons.

• Assists me in keeping up liquid intake
• Health benefits
• Calming warm beverage in an over air-conditioned environment.
• Co-worker social aspect of selecting tea and hunting for the prettiest teapots e-bay has to offer.
• Preparing tea creates a reason to walk away, giving my eyes and body a rest from computer work.

These are all wonderful benefits. But I know that I also liked acquiring beautiful teapots and that displaying at my desk gave me visual pleasure. I collected many different patterns and shapes. I acquired so many tea pots I could feed a company’s worth of thirst.

As my tastes for tea pot collecting became more and more refined I grew to have favorites. A co-worker and I started calling a particular style of china “The holy grail” because it was so hard to find and so exquisitely crafted. In our quest, I had acquired a small patter and a tea cup with lid in that style. I often petted those pieces and called it “precious” just like the creature in the lord of the rings.

Wednesday my company decided to rearrange where we all sat and moved me from one floor to another. I packed my delights with care. I told the movers which boxes had the china and to be extra careful. The mountain of boxes they were moving also contained many large heavy boxes of my books. They heeded my warnings and carefully placed those delicate boxes on top. I watched my possessions rolled off to the new location.

I waited. And I waited... After an extended amount of time, I went in search and I found the movers huddled not far from my old desk. The mover’s boss pulled me to the side with a serious look on his face, took a deep breath and described the dramatic tale of the entire mountain of boxes crashing down upon my china.

I am not sure how it occurred that all of my non-favorites were completely unharmed. Bizarrely, every single piece I considered to be my precious was broken. These favored items were in many different boxes. Some how, fate was able to single out those particular pieces. I even found a framed photo of my beloved puppy, sandwiched in a box of books, smashed.

I really wanted to be that Zen type of person that could tell the poor upset mover that it was all ok. I wanted to tell him it didn’t matter. I wanted to be the person that didn’t feel that attached to physical belongings. I wanted to just happy that he wasn’t hurt.

But most of all I wanted the items that broke, to not be my nine favorite pieces.

Comments

[Blanca]

:'( That red bowl looks beyond yummiliscious. Maybe the china pieces were paying for something they did in their past life.