Blind, buttered, and bred: Stories of parents and children
My mother is past seventy and is forever off on trips.
She’s part of a school of tea ceremony that has classes all over the country. She’s often called on to visit these places, but as the family sees it, that’s just an excuse. The truth is my mother just loves to travel.
Tea ceremony is a job that you can go on doing no matter how old you get. And it’s a job that can be done just about anywhere. Whatever the place, once the utensils are out, a small universe comes into being. There’s no real need for a stylish or resplendent tearoom. You can do it in the middle of a field or riding on a train. It’s not about where you are. It’s all in a conversation between the tea and the people who have made it.
My mother taught me that the way of tea is in a small universe of communication that we can make by ourselves.
To travel is to come face to face with one’s self, then to come face to face with others and finally to face each new place we arrive at. This has become the way I try to live my everyday life.
So, have a nice trip!
Life is a voyage. That is really what my mother has taught me.
(translation © victor woronov 2007)
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