12.26.09 – Flowering Tea

I have a lot of allergies – some real, some possibly more imagined. The problem is I have had severe reactions to foods, drugs, paints, and other environmental things, so sometimes it is hard to shake the fear of trying something new. I was given this green tea bud today, which looked utterly beautiful, but I was afraid to drink it even though I have had no problems with green tea. After staring at it for a while, I took a sip, then waited about a half an hour to have more, just in case something were to happen. Three containers later, or the equivalent of six cups, I am still alive and without any rashes or any worse the wear, and since the magazine at my gym claimed that people who drank at least three cups of green tea a day lost an additional five pounds a month, perhaps all those calories from the cookies I’ve been eating this week will be melting away as I type this. Of course, my assumption is that people who drink at least three cups of green tea a day probably have a much healthier diet than I do.

Still, it was quite a wonder to drink something coming from such a beautiful flower. It reminded me that as a child I once ate some of the flowers growing in our backyard. I can’t remember what they were, but I recall that they were fuchsia, and I’m sure I must have thought that they were candy of some kind. My mother was alarmed, but was told they were harmless to me. Obviously, they were. It makes me wonder if I sensed the flowers contained something I needed or if I was just drawn to the beauty.