Orange Pekoe Black Tea with Organic Honey...

 
I've been hit with some kind of stomach bug today. I guess something has been going around, and this one hit me out of nowhere.  It's no fun being sick... I've spent all day at home working through the discomfort and the only thing I could think of at one point is "I want my Daddy!"  Sickness does bring out our inner child and all I can think of was - what would my Dad do? I would dare say as adults we tend to revert to our parents remedies when we are sick.

In my lone delirium today I did text my father (who lives in Australia) just to tell him I had a stomach bug and I really missed him. He texted me back with a loving tease to stop drinking the water at the pool, and to make myself a cup of tea with honey... 

One of my childhood memories of being sick with a tummy ache was with my Dad - I was about 4 or 5. I remember this memory so distinctly, as at this point my parents were divorced and I spent weekends with my father. His home though familiar, was not the same as the familiarity of my Mom's house where I had my own room and all my belongings, so getting sick while I was with him made me nervous and a bit scared. But on this night he took me to the kitchen and offered me my very first cup of tea. I was a skeptic, of course, and he said he'd make it even better with some honey that he brought back from a recent trip in the northern provinces at the Philippines. 

I remember looking at the cup skeptically and delaying my first sip, complaining it was hot and making him blow the cup to cool it down. A few coaching sessions from my Dad, I finally took my first sip. The rest of the evening I was perched right next to him drinking my cup of tea, watching some National Geographic documentary about the ocean and diving, and falling asleep in his arms. My tummy ache was most certainly gone the next day and my love affair with tea began, as I ordered another cup for breakfast. 
  
My Dad's remedy was orange pekoe black tea with organic honey - my ultimate comfort food!  I don't quite replicate it with my Dad's magic touch, but somehow a cup of this tea brings me back to this childhood memory. It's a comforting hug and kiss from my father from across the miles that separate us, a guaranteed remedy to cure whatever illness I have, and an instant mood lifter to remind me that I'm loved! 

Here's to you Dad - I'm feeling better. 

xoxo,
Chrissy