It's All In The Timing

In 2009 we shut down the tearoom. With the doors closed and me not knowing which way was forward; I still knew that forward I must go. One day I found myself in the would-be dining room talking on the telephone with a friend. Over the years this room had been our temporary bedroom, dining room and then the tearoom gift shop. It was filled with shelving to accommodate our ever-growing line of teas. The centre of the room was taken up with more shelving and cupboards that housed numerous teapots, cups and saucers, cookie cutters and various odds and ends that made having a gift shop fun. Now I was faced with the reality that things had to change again and there was much work to be done. My friend wanted to have tea, and I somewhat reluctantly said yes. She was a friend in need so a visit was necessary. After I hung up I found myself saying out loud, I hope she doesn't stay too long, I have so much work to do!

She arrived shortly after and I quickly learned that much was happening in my friends' life that she really did need a good long visit. I pushed my needs of organization aside as I listened to my friend unwind. We were well into our second pot of tea and the cake had been totally consumed when the stovetop timer went off. That's odd, I thought to myself.

My friend said to me, Are you baking something?

I said no, and got up to shut off the timer. I returned to our conversation and more tea. Forty-seven minutes later the timer was sounding again. This time we looked at each other and laughed. Is someone trying to tell us something?

We both headed for the kitchen this time to shut off the timer. I double-checked it to make sure I shut it off properly. I was certain I did it right the first time but you never know.

We resumed our tea and conversation. This time the topic was leaning more toward previous happenings in the house and how we were fortunate that the ghosts were nice and not hurtful. We talked about earlier days when my friend worked in the tearoom. We wondered how we and everyone else who enjoyed a good cup of tea were going to miss it. Suddenly the timer went off again. My friend stood up and said, Okay, I'm going home. I must be taking up too much of your day.

We laughed some more about the house and its inhabitants. My friend finally said her goodbyes and was on her way feeling much better about life and full to the rim with good tea. For fun, I went back into the kitchen to check the timer on my stovetop. There were only 9 minutes left on it before it would start buzzing again. I turned the broken knob back to the start position, giggling as I did so. I knew it was Mary trying to help me out. She doesn't like to have her house in chaos any more than I do. When things are left messy she can be heard shuffling chairs and walking around the main floor. I find that I have become so used to her meandering about that I scarcely notice it anymore. It's just part of the everyday life in this house.