Over Afternoon Tea

Tea is not only a drink but a ritual over which people have been relaxing, talking, and catching up on each other's lives for centuries. This blog is intended to serve as a virtual cup of tea, helping me keep in touch with friends and family in my physical absence.

Congratulations

I was four and a half. She was three. I'd never seen so many raccoons, or such bold ones. On that Florida beach, they had grown tame to the point of climbing onto people's picnic tables while the people were eating, and I was afraid.
"Don't be afraid, Lisa," she urged me, wading forward into the underbrush and coming back with a stick twice her size. "I'll protect you."
And now my younger sister, AKA older brother, is graduating from college. The spunkiest, stubbornest, sweetest little girl has grown into the spunkiest, stubbornest, sweetest woman, and is launching out on life in her usual style--adventurous and a bit haphazard. She's going to Europe for a month, and then who knows where. She doesn't. I wish she weren't leaving Massachusetts, which I'm assuming she will. The last two years have given me a chance not only to get to know her better, but to come to respect her deeply. I'm going to miss her.
Thankfully, Massachusetts doesn't have an overpopulation of raccoons.