Aha Nostalgia (written December 27, 2020 and edited January 3, 2021)

Image by Terri Cnudde from Pixabay

Dear Reader, 

As the New Year approaches and as I open a box of my life-long favorite black tea, I feel one of those nostalgic waves wash over my mind where my life-long memories are stored. Like many people, I run though filmy memories from over the years every Christmas and New Year's Eve. Yet, any time I open a box of Red Rose Tea, no matter what time of year it is, I feel a strong sense of aha! nostalgia. 

I usually buy it at the drug store. Going to the drug store to buy it when I am nearly out (I cannot bear to run out of it) is an established ritual in my life, and I visit the same shelf each time, knowing exactly where it is kept, just as I make a big deal about where it is kept in my kitchen. It always has a special physical place as well as a sentimental one. 

As I remove the plastic wrap (once cellophane) from the box, I hear the familiar crinkle of that particular wrap of plastic as I see the familiarly featured red rose. I always double-check the corners of the box front, in hopes it contains one of the free porcelain miniature sculptures inside for which this tea is famous. In my printer's drawer, I have many a wild animal and dogs, cats, birds, lighthouses, sailboats, and more. When I remove a miniature figurine from the box, I see in the image of the current piece all the other carved pieces I have been able to collect. There is an old-fashioned sense of continuity in time and consistency of place within each box of tea and within my printer's drawer within each piece. However, it is this consistency that lets the mind travel through old memories or the through the making of new ones. The Wade lighthouse figurine pertains to the lighthouses in the midst where I live, and in the mist of fog on the lake; my Wade sea gull and sailboat figurines remind me of the gulls and sailboats here on the lake and of the gull salt and pepper shakers and beachside scene teacup my daughter when young purchased at one of the city-wide garage sales here--and those garage sales also bring back a lot of memories of a lot of people and their arts they have sold there. The city wide garage sale takes place near the marina which reminds me of all the fun festival events that have taken place there year after year. This instantly reminds me of the wood carved painting my mother purchased by a local Lake Erie artist way back when in the 70's. 

(My American Wade figurines are not pictured above with the other photos.)  

I mentioned above that this consistency lets my mind travel (sometimes expectedly to certain things, places, and times and other times unexpectedly); my mind does so not just through the free associations of images I receive but through another fun "surprise" I find in every box. Placed between each row of tea is a thin sheet of cardboard that is the perfect size and shape of a bookmark. Whenever I remove these self-proclaimed bookmark discoveries I place them into the books I am reading at the time. (See photo below.)

Then I put my new figurine in my printer's drawer that my mother bought me when I was young. The printer's drawer hung above my desk in my room. I would sometimes look at it as I wrote. I would sometimes look at it as I did artwork. I would often stop what I was doing and daydream a bit before going back to work at play. I often played with the figurines, configuring them similarly to porcelain puppets or cartoon characters, having them hold dialogue with one another. My daughter, when she was little, and now my granddaughter do the same sort of thing. I am going to wait a few more years before passing my printer's drawer and the miniatures on to my granddaughter. Each of all three of us were (or are) only children, and all three of us have had big childhood imaginations--because with things like puppets, none of us were really ever alone. Living in a world of adults, we all encountered tea (or coffee) at a young age, with which we were fascinated, and later came to love in flavor and not just in the fragrance of the aroma or the sight of tea or teacups, and we all came to love and admire things like teacups or other collectibles at a very young age. 

In keeping to the theme of the lemon tree blog here, I can also add that I do, of course, often enjoy lemon in my tea. And here is a red cup for the bright red color of vitality for the coming New Year. This is a stock photo from a photo shop, not my photo, but it reminded me of all the Chinese New Year parties my daughter had when she was little and all the red decorations I used to purchase each new year. This too, for old time's sake or to think of things ever since long ago. 

To read more about the nature of memory and "old time's sake" here is a link to the meaning of the phrase of the popular New Year's Eve song. "Auld Lang Syne." 

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Auld-Lang-Syne

In fact, this blog exists partially so that I myself can indulge in my memories as I share them with you, and that my memories remain here for my granddaughter as she grows up, so she can read them and have that continuity in her life, for auld lang syne. 

Stuff Not Forgotten,
Mary Ann

mbenci.writes@gmail.com