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.

Surprise Inspection

The doorbell rang.
You wouldn't think that would cause much of a sensation. It's a small campus, true, and in an age of laziness and cell phones most of our friends do call before dropping by, but not always. Nobody, however, rings the doorbell. The one belonging to our upstairs neighbors doesn't work, and I got so out of the habit that I've never tried anybody else's. They, likewise, have never really tried mine.
Accordingly, I moved to the door with a cheery "Hey, the doorbell works!"
"Of course it works!" replied the priest as the door swung open. He stood outside in his petrahili and rasso, the foundational garments of an Orthodox priest, and his little monk's cap, holding a bowl, a cross, and some basil. Obviously, he had come to bless the house.
Given the fact that I had just returned from the service blessing the water that he was now planning to sprinkle us with, I wasn't as surprised as I might have been. After a moment of awkward surprise, my husband collected the music he'd used for the same service at another parish this morning. Father started sprinkling and we started singing. The apartment is small and it took only two rounds of "When You, o Lord, were baptized in the Jordan" before the blessing was finished. Then we got sprinkled and kissed his cross, and he headed for his next apartment.
When the door had closed behind him, I collapsed into giggles. My husband did a quick tour of the rooms to see if anything unsuitable for priest-monks had been left lying out, then came to hug me with a mild and amused relief. "It's fine. A mess, but fine."
I giggled some more. "Of all the idiotic things to say to the priest."
"Hmm?"
"The doorbell works."