tea and stars

there we sat around the table,
havin' tea.

this in itself was odd as he always
hated tea, and there he was asking
me about it and telling me how much
he liked earl grey. we went off to
go pick which kind we were gonna try,
leaving his dad sitting there with this
confused look on his face.

trading sips we compared our teas and
discussed tea bags vs. loose leaves.

go figure.

it had been awhile.
wanting to keep things even keeled, i
dove in and redirected the flow abruptly
several times as i laughed thru the changes.

this was for fun. wanted to keep it that way.
sooner or later we decided to go around the
table offering some news from our lives.

first time we ever did this...and each time
his dad shared something, i turned and said
'really??? i didn't know that.'

we laughed. we need to do this more often.

he shared something personal and i smiled
gently. that was a gift. saw it, asked how
far we could go with talkin' about it, and
then left it alone to honor the gift.

i shared the news of the stars inside me.
he grinned. said he needed a scientific
explanation....

his dad leaned back and watched, and i gave
it my best shot.

the next round of news, i picked something more
practical.

i watched us and thought of how far we have all
traveled. anyone passing by wouldn't think twice
of the three of us sitting there. they'd have no
idea of the sweat and tears that had brought us
to this place.

somewhere along the line, i looked down at the
table.

they didn't notice....but i did....
it was covered with stars.