TRANSCRIPT

I was in 7^th or 8^th grade and we had a day off from school. I cannot remember the reason why we had a day off of school but of course I was glad.

So I was at home and some time during the day, my friend, let’s call him AC, called my house phone just to chat.

I think we both may have been bored.

Anywho, he asked me what I was doing and I mentioned I was making green tea.

For context, this is not green tea you get at your regular grocery store.

 This green tea was green tea a relative had brought back from Ghana when they went home to visit.

This green tea looked like reeds and then you boil it in water.

So I was telling my friend this and he was like oh my gosh I loveeeee real green tea.

I was like me toooooo.

Thus began a 2 hour conversation about tea, at least….it may have been longer but for sure it was at least 2 hours.

My friend, AC, was also from an immigrant family.

My family is from ghana and I am first generation ewe-american

His family was from Asia and he was first generation too.

We were both one of the few minorities at our school.

So there was a lot of unspoken goodness in this conversation that I did not realize until my adulthood on why I probably enjoyed this conversation so much at the time.

For example the common knowing of back home. Even though our back homes were different countries and continents, we still had that shared understanding and resonance with back home.

So we literally went into detail on green tea and getting the good stuff from back home.

He spoke about the type of green tea he liked and made.

We spoke about how delicious it was with honey but not too much honey…just the right amount.

We spoke about how warm and cozy it is.

We laughed and laughed at each other’s enthusiasm about green tea.

We spoke about how the tea from our respective “back home” was sooooo good.

Some of the things we talked about included, or at least I think it included, how we love to make it when we come home from school and were getting ready to do our homework.

And how good a warm cup of tea feels in your hands.

We went on and on just about our experience with green tea.

Then when we were done we just got off the phone and said we would see each other at school.

I remember when my mom came home from work, I told her about it.

I was just so happy and thought it was so funny that I spoke about tea for so long.

I am not sure if I realized it at the time or had the words on why it was so good and made me so happy.

I do now.

That was just a sincere soul nourishing conversation with a dear friend just because.

Because why not.

Also our appreciation for our herbs from back home and our respective cultures and immigrant families.

I think of this conversation randomly some times and it always makes my soul smile.

So I just want to end this short story by saying:

Thank you AC.

Thank you green tea from ghana.

Thank you listener for listening to this episode.

I hope it made you smile.