Happy International Tea Day!
This has been designated International Tea Day by the UN in support of sustainable tea production. And what better way to celebrate this day than having an online tea party with my 4-year old grandson Druv who lives in New York City. We’ve been having ‘online’ tea once a week for 6 or 7 weeks.
It’s a way to keep in touch during COVID-19. Druv is ‘stuck’ in lockdown in his 9th floor Manhattan apartment, missing his pre-school friends and activities, and I’m self-isolating in my condo in Iowa, unable to visit my husband in a care center and next door neighbors and friends.
Once a week Druv gets his tea and cookies ready and I prepare my tea and treats, then we log on to Zoom and have a fun hour drinking tea, eating our sweets and fruit and reading stories and chatting. The best stories are the ones Druv makes up, like the one about the GIANT PANDA that was as big as his 16-story apartment building!
Or the story he made up about the mountain goat who caught his horns in the tablecloth and disrupted the tea party other animals were having in the middle of the woods. What an imagination! Maybe he will become a writer like his mom and dad. 
I’m thankful for technology which allows us to keep in touch when we can’t be together physically. In addition to the tea parties with Druv, I’ve enjoyed the weekly Zoom chats with other Specialty Tea Institute members.
